In a contrast to Sunday, it was cooler and breezy in “The City of Light” on Monday, and the defending champion led a number of notable women beginning their play in Paris.

Sharapova begins title defense

Defending champion and second seed Maria Sharapova had her game face on early against Kaia Kanepi and rolled to a 6-2 6-4 victory. The Russian grabbed control of the match out of the gate with sharp, powerful angles, moving the Estonian around the court.

In the first set, Sharapova took advantage of Kanepi’s suspect serve. Attacking at every chance, she allowed Kanepi success only on minimal points during her service games and broke her three times during the set.

However, in the second set Kanepi improved her serve and showed some fight. As it appeared Sharapova would steamroll through the set, she battled to get back on serve early after a 1-3 deficit. Gaining confidence and anticipating well, Kanepi raised her first-serve percentage while taking advantage of some miscues off Sharapova’s serve.

But in what has become accustomed with Sharapova, her level of play rose on the big points. And as Kanepi served to stay in the match, the two-time French Open champion would break serve (with a little help from a Kanepi double-fault on match point) and take the match, advancing to the second round.

The world No. 2 won the match but left the court to jeers for failing to participate in the traditional courtside interview afterwards. Sharapova, who appeared to be dealing with a cold, claimed that her voice was not strong enough to do so.

Radwanska continues to spiral downward

Fourteenth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska continued a disappointing trend in 2015, falling to Annika Beck 6-2 3-6 6-1 in the first round. Beck eliminated the former top-10 player in her first victory on clay this season. The 2013 quarterfinalist at Roland Garros continued a string of recent poor results. Radwanska had entered Paris having lost three of her last five matches, not including Fed Cup play.

Beck was able to dictate play throughout the match as Radwanska counterpunched, and the result was a 41-11 advantage in winners. The German took advantage of Radwanska’s second serve and broke the veteran six times.

Radwanska began the year as world No. 6 but has seen that ranking drop dramatically in the first half of the year. She will turn her attention to the grass surface and Wimbledon, a tournament where she found her best Grand Slam result. She made the finals there in 2012.

All-American battle sees Stephens prevail

One of the more compelling matches of the day was between Americans Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens. It was a battle pitting a seasoned veteran with multiple major championships against a player who has historically been pegged as the heir to the Williams sisters’ crown.  Stephens, the player who has been labelled as an important cog for the future fortunes of American women’s tennis, has not lived up to those expectations thus far. However, on Monday she appeared focused as she defeated the veteran 7-6 6-1.

Clearly, the 34-year-old was not at her best on this day, but Stephens’ consistent play from the baseline was a big factor in the win. Stephens kept unforced errors in check with just 14 and forced Venus into 30 of her own. She managed to control points from the baseline and was successful during service games, particularly on her first serve. She failed to hold serve just once during the match. Clearly frustrated, Williams failed to show at her post-match press conference and will once again face questions as to her future in the sport. She has lost in the first round in two of the last three years at Roland Garros.

Meanwhile, Stephens will advance to face Heather Watson of Great Britain in the second round.

Tough day for Americans

While Stephens advanced, it was a tough day for the remainder of the Americans on Monday. In early play, Nicole Gibbs fell to Alexandra Dulgheru, 6-3 6-1. Meanwhile, after a strong run in Melbourne, Madison Brengle has struggled of late. She fell to veteran Sam Stosur, 6-1 6-3, while Bethanie Mattek-Sands was eliminated by Irina-Camelia Begu, 6-4 7-6. Elsewhere, Alison Riske battled strong against clay-court specialist Sara Errani but fell short in three-sets, 7-6 2-6 6-0.

Good day for top seeds

Eighth-seeded Carla Suarez-Navarro rolled to a 6-2 6-2 victory against Monica Niculescu, while Angelique Kerber was impressive in her victory against Timea Babos. The 11th seed wasted little time in her 6-0 6-1 win. Twelfth-seeded Karolina Pliskova advanced in straight sets as well. She dismissed Shuai Zhang of China 7-6 6-4 to advance to the second round.