Ivanovic battles thru'

Serbia's Ana Ivanovic plays a forehand against Italy's Sara Errani during the French Open first round match at Roland Garros in Paris yesterday.Photo: AFP

Defending champion Ana Ivanovic was made to sweat before reaching the French Open second round on Sunday with a gruelling 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 win over Italy's Sara Errani as Roland Garros temperatures hit a sweltering 30 degrees.Ivanovic, who skipped the Madrid Open because of a knee injury, had the problem area taped when she walked onto a sun-drenched Philippe Chatrier Court, but it didn't hinder her in the early exchanges as she edged to a 3-1 advantage.
The 44th-ranked Italian then stormed back to lead 5-4, but once she had squandered an opportunity to serve for the first set in the 10th game, her fight steadily melted away.
The 21-year-old Serbian will play either Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn or Camille Pin of France for a place in the third round.
Meanwhile, Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin, both former world number ones and with two Grand Slam titles each, began their campaigns with victories.
Hewitt survived a world record 55-ace barrage from giant Croatian Ivo Karlovic to claim a 6-7 (1/7), 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 6-3 win which lasted almost four hours and left his opponent needing treatment for dehydration.
It was the fifth time in his career that the 28-year-old Australian, twice a quarterfinalist in Paris, had come back from a two-set deficit.
Karlovic's ace-count was a world record, beating the previous best of 51 set by Joachim Johansson at Wimbledon in 2005, a match the Swedish player also lost.
Hewitt, now ranked 50 and who underwent hip surgery in August last year, will face Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan for a place in the third round where four-time champion Rafael Nadal is a likely opponent.
Safin, a semifinalist in 2002 and playing his 11th and last French Open before retiring, eased past French wildcard Alexandre Sidorenko 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
China's Li Na, the women's 25th seed, earlier had the honour of becoming the first player to reach the second round thanks to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Poland's Marta Domachowska.
The 26-year-old Li now meets Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky.
Li was quickly joined in the next round by promising Russian 17-year-old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the 27th seed, who eased past Romania's Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-3, 6-2.
Eighteen-year-old Russian qualifier Vitalia Diatchenko, the world 151, reduced Mathilde Johansson, one of a record 19 Frenchwomen in the draw, to a tearful wreck after a three-hour 2-6, 6-2, 10-8 win.
Johansson wasted eight match points, four of which were squandered on double faults.
Diatchenko, making her Grand Slam debut, will face either world number one Dinara Safina or Britain's Anne Keothavong for a place in the third round.
Later Sunday, men's third seed Andy Murray faces Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela, a former quarter-finalist, while 2004 champion Gaston Gaudio takes on Czech 18th seed Radek Stepanek.