Bud Collins

PARIS - It was a sigh of relief heard around the tennis world when Serena Williams survived a rocky start to prevail in her first-round match at Roland Garros on the opening day of the major for those who love clay.

Actually, the most relief was felt by American tennis fans because Serena is their great hope among the 10 U.S. women in the French Open draw. Since 1987 there have been only two American ladies to become the toast of Paris. Serena's one of them, having conquered Roland Garros in 2002 one year after Jennifer Capriati won her only French Open championship.

A true gut check
Serena had to dig real deep to turn back Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 in a test where she did not appear match tough and didn’t look like a former Roland Garros champion at all. What she did show, however, is how serious she is about winning in Paris. She has said it is her No. 1 priority and after dropping the first set she knew she had to pull it together and fast.

The eighth-seeded Serena doesn’t go overboard when it comes to being a fan of the clay -- the surface where her game is least effective. But her athleticism and steely determination did not abandon her on the dirt on this day just as it did not abandon her for her fantastic Paris fortnight five years ago.

The Williams-Pironkova match is one of the oddest matches I’ve seen of late. It was a nutty affair to be sure. And Serena almost was out of it after the first set. But luckily for American tennis fans, Serena realized two things about her situation and fought back from her deficit to keep alive not only her chances to win this major but also to win the first calendar Grand Slam in women's tennis since Steffi Graf accomplished the feat in 1988.

First, she took note that she has never lost an opening match at a major during her career, a record of 30-0. Serena draws great confidence from that, a confidence she summoned after she was broken four times in the first set, and again in the opening game of the second.

Second, Serena wasn't about to have her Paris ticket punched out on a Sunday. This is the second year the French Open has started on a Sunday as opposed to a Monday which had been tradition. Serena said she just told herself that she wasn't leaving the City of Lights on a Sunday, that would be too embarrassing and so she became motivated to turn around the match against Pironkova, who is ranked 91st in the world.

Father knows best
Conditions at Roland Garros were unfavorable for all but sea creatures on Sunday as it was cold and rainy -- the match had a six-hour rain delay with Pironkova leading 6-5 in the opening set when play was suspended. Play didn't resume until 6:30 p.m.

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It was a very different Serena that we saw at the beginning of the match against Pironkova, who by the way is no stranger to the Williams' clan. Pironkova has actually claimed the scalp of a top-10 player once in her career and that player happened to be Serena’s older sister, Venus, who she beat 9-7 in the third set of the first round at last year’s Australian Open.

Pironkova comes from athletic Bulgarian stock -- her father, Kiril, is a former canoe champion and her mother, Radosveta, is a former swimming champion. In the first set of this match it seemed as if the 19-year-old Pironkova was paddling her way to another big upset.

Serena seemed very uncomfortable in her surroundings -- the slow red clay affected her play as if she was knee deep in the dirt. She seemed to lack a smart game plan and a sense of superiority she should have against such a lesser player as Pironkova. Basically, whatever Serena did early on, she seemed to do it wrong, piling up 26 unforced errors in the first set.

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While Williams was able to rebound to 5-5 from a 5-2 deficit in the first set and saved four set points -- one in the eighth game and three in the 10th game, she couldn’t effectively push her own cause in that first set.

During the long rain delay, more than one spy out there spotted papa Richard Williams giving Serena quite an earful about her performance. He told her that she needed to assert herself in the match, play aggressively, come to the net and mix things up. I also suspect he told her to stop making all the errors and stop playing to Pironkova’s strength, which is her backhand. Once Serena attacked her opponent's forehand more often, the tide of the match changed in her favor. Chalk one up for Dad and his on-the-money advice.