Play began on Sunday at the season’s second major in sunny Paris, and many believe that the women’s draw is more open than usual this year. Some of the WTA’s best were in first-round action as play kicked off at Roland Garros.

Despite 26 unforced errors, third-seeded Simona Halep advanced past Evgeniya Rodina 7-5 6-4 on Court Philippe Chatrier. Halep, whose steady play is a trademark, was clearly not at her best. “It was a tough match because it was first round and always it is difficult to start the tournament” Halep said.  However, the Romanian was not rattled afterwards, “Next round I will be better for sure.”

Halep gave away three breaks on her serve to go with some shaky groundstrokes. But despite a less than stellar performance, the 23-year-old remained confident and shook off disappointing moments without displaying negative emotions on the court. She will face veteran Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the second round.

Meanwhile, seventh-seeded Ana Ivanovic found herself in a tough first-round battle with a feisty Yaroslava Shvedova. After dropping the first set, the 2008 French Open champion rallied to a 4-6 6-2 6-0 win to advance to the second round.

After losing a tough first set, a more animated Ivanovic fought her way back into the match in the second set by jumping out to a 4-0 lead. The Serb benefited from a bevy of errors by Shvedova and made inroads into her serve, breaking consistently during the set. Shvedova offered little resistance in the third set as Ivanovic avoided an early upset.

Ivanovic was happy to advance. “To get a win here means a lot to me. I really came back, and in the third set I played good tennis,” she said.

In one of the more competitive matches of the day, 13th-seeded Lucie Safarova edged Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6 7-6. The Czech took the first tiebreak 8-6 while battling to an 11-9 victory in the second. Both players struggled in their service games throughout the match as each recorded four breaks of their opponent’s serve, and the pair combined for 16 double faults on the afternoon. But Pavlyuchenkova only placed 50 percent of her first serves in play and hurt her chances with 42 unforced errors in the match. The multitude of errors gave Safarova an edge in key points, particularly in the tiebreaks. She took advantage, advancing to face Kurumi Nara of Japan next.

Elsewhere, in a mild upset, the first seeded woman to fall was Caroline Garcia. The Frenchwoman, who came to Roland Garros as the 31st seed, fell to Donna Vekic 3-6 6-3 6-2. Garcia’s serve was broken five times, and she struggled at times with her groundstrokes, giving away 38 unforced errors. And while the Croat’s game was not at her best, it was good enough to defeat Garcia in her home major in three sets. It was a disappointing effort for Garcia, who had pushed Maria Sharapova to three sets before falling to the world no. 2 in three sets at Madrid.

Other seeds to advance on Sunday included Ekaterina Makarova, Garbine Muguruza, and Flavia Pennetta. Meanwhile, it was a disappointing outing for 24th-seeded Shuai Peng of China, who was forced to retire against Polona Hercog at 0-6, 0-2. Many recall Peng’s gutty effort at the U. S. Open last season, when she collapsed on the court with a leg injury during her semifinal match against Caroline Wozniacki. She was forced to miss significant time after Indian Wells this season due to injury and played in only her fourth tournament since Melbourne on Sunday.