TENNIS in DEPTH.

Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki and Elena Dementieva were a trio of first-round winners Monday at the French Open.

The 2002 champion Williams was tested in the first set by Stefanie Voegele before settling down for a 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 victory over her Swiss counterpart. Williams tallied three service winners late in the first-set tiebreak and finished the match with 10 aces.

Williams, who headed to Paris having lost two of her last three matches, is the reigning Australian Open and Wimbledon champion and owns 12 career major titles.

The 28-year-old Williams reached her lone French Open final here eight years ago, and beat her older sister Venus that day.

Up next for Serena will be German Julia Goerges.

The third-seeded 2009 U.S. Open runner-up Wozniacki cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 win over Russia’s Alla Kudryavtseva, while the fifth-seeded Dementieva had little trouble in a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Croatia’s Petra Martic. The two-time Grand Slam finalist Dementieva was a French Open runner-up in 2004.

The 19-year-old Wozniacki will meet Italian Tathiana Garbin in the second round, while Dementieva will take on Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues.

Eighth-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska bested Brit Elena Baltacha 6-0, 7-5, while China’s Li Na, the 11th seed, notched a 7-5, 6-3 triumph over French wild card Kristina Mladenovic on a second straight cloudless day in Paris.

In other action involving seeds, No. 17 Italian Francesca Schiavone overcame Russian Regina Kulikova 5-7, 6-3, 6-4; No. 24 Czech Lucie Safarova drilled Aussie Jelena Dokic 6-2, 6-2; No. 27 Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko blitzed Russian Vera Dushevina 6-1, 6-2; No. 31 Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru held off Czech Lucie Hradecka 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 6-3; and No. 32 Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko dismantled France’s Julie Coin 6-1, 6-2. Dulgheru is fresh off her clay-court title in Warsaw.

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