Ivanovic wins battle of Paris heroines

The 2008 Roland Garros champion from Serbia beat the 2010 champion from Italy 6-1, 7-5 with a first-round performance that belied her relative decline over the past three years.

Ivanovic hurtled so quickly into a 5-0 lead, with such forceful blows from her first serve and forehand, that it seemed unlikely that she would be troubled.

But Schiavone summoned a typically tenacious second-set performance, twice recovering from dropped service games and threatening to do that a third time before Ivanovic closed the match out in a tight finish.

"I believe I can get back to the top and win a Grand Slam again -- that's why I am here," said Ivanovic. "If that wasn't going to happen or I didn't feel that it could, I wouldn't be here.

"It's strange that at the age of 24 I am considered old. It's a great challenge for us players who have been around for a while," she said, referring to the rise during 2011 of Victoria Azarenka, Petra Kvitova, and Caroline Wozniacki.

"They are pushing us to get better and I still believe that I can."

Ivanovic was also pleased with the way in which she handled a finish in which her English coach Nigel Sears unexpectedly appeared on court before she could serve for the match for a second time.

Asked why she had called for him, Ivanovic said: "I didn't -- he just stood up and came! He said: 'You are doing a good job, just keep at it.'

"I tried not to think about the scores. I tried to stay aggressive and also to mix it up. I tried very hard to do that."

Ivanovic nevertheless needed the help of the Hawkeye video system before reaching match point.

Schiavone's net approach was called in, but the computer simulation showed the ball landing an inch wide.

Ivanovic celebrated by closing out the match immediately with a fine first serve.

Earlier, another seed, Agnieszka Radwanska -- the fifth seed from Poland -- narrowly survived.

She was 3-5 down in the final set against Aleksandra Wozniak, a Canadian qualifier who had had the advantage of playing three times already on these courts, before escaping 6-1, 6-7 (6/8), 7-5.

Daniela Hantuchova was also behind in the final set in similar circumstances.

The former world number five from Slovakia was down 1-3 against lucky loser Polona Hercog and then again by 1-3 in the final set tie-break.

Hantuchova eventually squeezed home 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) against the rising top 40 Slovenian -- partly with the help of a Hercog double fault that relinquished a mini-break in the tie-break, but also by being bold enough to take more risks in attack.

Marion Bartoli was another heavyweight to fall, the number six seed from France being beaten 6-4, 6-3 by China's Peng Shuai.

Bartoli retired with a calf problem after one set in Saturday's semi-finals in Doha and after this time taking 3-0 leads in both sets, she slowed markedly, and ended the match limping.

Peng next plays Hantuchova. Ivanovic, meanwhile, faces Russia's Maria Kirilenko, who is suffering from a neck injury, and has a chance of earning a quarter-final meeting with defending champion Wozniacki.