PARIS – Reigning champion Garbine Muguruza survived a tough French Open second-round challenge from Anett Kontaveit, while men's title-holder Novak Djokovic stormed into the last 32 on Wednesday.
Muguruza's patchy form this season includes a loss to the world number 53 in Stuttgart, with the Spaniard again in dire trouble in Paris after falling a set and a break behind against the Estonian.
But the fourth seed recovered to claw out a 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-2 win and book a third-round clash with Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan.
"I have a different spirit here. I'm going to fight for every ball to try and win," said Muguruza, who defeated Serena Williams in last year's final.
"She was playing so good in the first two sets. I was just hanging there waiting for my moment and in the third set it came."
Djokovic needed little over two hours to see off Portugal's Joao Sousa 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 as he bids to become the first man in the Open era to win each Grand Slam twice.
The world number two broke his 59th-ranked opponent six times to make it four wins in as many meetings with Sousa.
Djokovic goes on to face Argentina's Diego Schwartzman for a place in the last 16.
"In the first and second rounds I'm the favourite, but it's sport and nothing is predictable," said Djokovic.
"I think the first two sets went very well, the third was was more difficult."
Rafael Nadal's quest for an incredible 10th Roland Garros title continues later against Dutchman Robin Haase later.
But Carlos Moya, the 1998 French Open champion and part of coaching Nadal's coaching team, admitted talk of another triumph was causing pressure for his fellow Spaniard.
"Clearly there is a bit of pressure. We don't pay much attention to making it number ten," Moya told AFP.
"We take it into account but we try to ignore it. We try to coexist as best as possible with the pressure."