Two of the sets went to tie-breaks and took up the lion's share of play time, while the final set saw Kontaveit made short order of her opponent in just 26 minutes, ending a two-year jinx in the tournament, which has seen her go out in round one both times.

Set one saw Kontaveit get off to a good start, only for her opponent to tie things at 3:3, after which things were neck-and-neck and went to a tie-break, which the Swiss player took 7:4 after a little over three-quarters-of-an-hour's play.

The second set was even more labored, taking over an hour to complete as the score-line see-sawed after Kontaveit pulled back from a two-game deficit early on, when the Swiss player, 28, was 4:2 up and in sight of victory. Things were soon 5:5, however, after which Kontaveit took over in one of her trademark opening round epics.

After taking the second tie-break set 7:5, the Estonian, 25, from Tallinn, didn't drop a single game, careening to victory in set three 6:0.

Kontavet's next opponent is local player  Kristina Mladenovic  (61st), who dispatched Slovak player Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in straight sets.

Kontaveit is 4:0 up in the pair's encounters so far.

The Estonian went out in round one last year after losing to Caroline Garcia, while in 2019 she lost in the opening round to  Czech Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic in three sets.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!