Tennis: French Open: Maria Sharapova Beats Emile Loit 6-3, 7-6

Maria Sharapova got her French Open campaign off to a spluttering start this morning but eventually saw off Emilie Loit 6-3, 7-6. The world No2, who in four previous appearances at Roland Garros has never gone beyond the quarter-finals, looked rusty under gloomy clouds. But she still did enough to set up a second-round match with American Jill Craybas.

Sharapova, seeded second, had broken Loit to open up a 2-1 lead when the Frenchwoman had her left thigh and lower back massaged and left Centre Court to receive further treatment. She returned after a few minutes and the pair traded breaks before Sharapova captured Loit's serve again to seal the set.

Loit, who is ranked No41 in the world, offered stubborn resistance in the second set, breaking serve in the fifth game to go ahead 3-2. But the Russian responded by breaking back only to drop serve again in the 11th game, enabling Loit to serve for the set. Loit, however, was broken and Sharapova took the tiebreak 7-4 with a forehand winner on her first match point.

Elsewhere, former champion Anastasia Myskina was dumped out after just 38 minutes, crushed 6-1, 6-0 by American Meghann Shaughnessy. Myskina, the first Russian woman to lift a grand slam title when she triumphed in 2004, almost skipped the tournament due to injuries and a wretched run of form. Today's embarrassment came in only her second competitive match of the year.

Once ranked as high as second in the world, Myskina is now floundering at 51 and has not won a match since reaching the final in Stockholm last August. Shaughnessy's reward for the win will be a second-round date with another Russian, third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.