Dinara Safina overcame 35 unforced errors to beat fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 7-5 in the opening center-court match at the French Open, which started on a Sunday for the first time.

Russia's Dinara Safina jubilates after winning her first round match against Russia's Vera Zvonareva during the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Sunday May 28, 2006. Safina won the match 6-3, 7-5. [AP]

The tournament added a 15th day of play to extend into a third weekend. Twelve matches were scheduled, with action on three courts.

Play began with temperatures in the 60s under overcast skies, but the sun broke through during the first set.

The 14th-seeded Safina won a sloppy, seesaw match, with nearly half of the points ending in unforced errors. She took a 6-5 lead in the second set with the 10th service break of the match, then closed out the victory with a crosscourt backhand winner.

No. 22 Ai Sugiyama also advanced, rallying to beat Eleni Daniilidou 6-7 (1), 6-0, 6-3. In men's play, No. 7 Tommy Robredo swept Tomas Zib 6-4, 6-2, 6-2.

Safina, the younger sister of two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin, improved her career record at Roland Garros to 2-3. She lost in the opening round in 2003 and 2005.

But Safina has climbed this year to 16th in the rankings, and she beat three top 10 players en route to her first Tier I final last week at Rome before losing to Martina Hingis.

"I'm starting to be a little more calm this year, and a little more knowing what I'm doing on the court," Safina said. "I'm trying to play really focused from the first point to when I shake hands."

Zvonareva reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros in 2003, but she fell out of the top 20 last year and is only 10-12 in 2006.