Venus Williams secured her place in the second round of the French Open with a hard-fought 4-6 6-1 6-3 win over Paula Ormaechea.

Williams made a sluggish start to the match and found herself a break down as early as the third game. The American broke back soon afterwards, but Ormaechea claimed the set 6-4 with a clean backhand winner.

For a moment, it looked as though there may be an upset on the cards, but Williams was unstoppable in the second set, racing into a 5-0 lead. Her opponent managed to pull one game back before going down 6-1.

The final set was a thriller, with both players looking evenly matched from the off. The Argentine clawed her way back to 3-5, but came undone in the final game with a costly double fault and a drive into the net.

Williams will take on either Agnieszka Radwanska or Bojana Jovanovski in the next round.