Madrid Australian Open champion Li Na avoided a repeat of her surprise first-round exit at the Madrid Open last year with a 6-1, 7-6 (9/7) win over Belgian Kirsten Flipkens on Monday.
The world No 2 raced through the opening set but was forced to save two set points in the second before closing out the match in a tie-break.
“I knew it would never be an easy match and even when I won the first set, she was really fighting a lot in the second,” said the Chinese star.
Next up for Li is a meeting with compatriot Jie Zheng in round two. “We are from the same country, we know each other well so I’m sure it will be tough,” Li said.
On the men’s side Japan’s Kei Nishikori kept his recent fine form going after winning the Barcelona Open last week with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Croatian Ivan Dodig.
Nishikori will face Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the second round.
Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova became the first seed to fall on Monday, though, as she was comprehensively beaten 6-3, 6-0 by Australia’s Sam Stosur.
Earlier on Sunday, top seed and defending champion Serena Williams cruised past teenage qualifier Belinda Bencic into second round as the world No 1 began her quest for a 60th career title.
American Williams, chasing a third consecutive triumph at the premier clay event in the Spanish capital, dispatched the 17-year-old Swiss, ranked 98th, 6-2, 6-1 to set up a meeting with unseeded Chinese Peng Shuai.
Bencic, the youngest player in the top 100, broke the Williams serve once in the opening set but crumbled thereafter and lost her own five times.
Williams was looking fresh after a month off following her second-round defeat in Charleston and sealed victory with her 11th ace of the match for her 13th consecutive win in the Spanish capital.
“I was playing such a young player and she had nothing to lose and she has such a bright future so it wasn’t very easy going out there,” Williams said in an interview made available by the WTA.
“But it feels good to get a win under my belt on clay.
“I think I played well, I went for a lot of winners and they actually went in so I was, like, wow.
“I love the crowd here, I love the Spanish. They just have so much life.”
Williams was joined in the second round by Czech fifth seed Petra Kvitova, who had a tough test against unseeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea before coming through 6-1, 5-7, 7-6.
Seventh-seeded German Angelique Kerber was trailing French qualifier Caroline Garcia 6-3, 2-0 when she had to retire because of a back injury.
“I’ve been feeling my back for a few days now and felt it again in the first set and it was getting worse as the match went on,” Kerber said.
