Serena Williams played with fire at the French Open on Thursday, but the world number one pulled through to the third round with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 win against unheralded German Anna-Lena Friedsam.
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The American hit a flurry of unforced errors in the first set and faced two break points in the first game of the second before she regained her composure.
Williams, whose 19 Grand Slam titles include the French Open crowns in 2002 and 2013, has already experienced spectacular failures here, having been knocked out in the first round in 2012 and in the second round last year.
But when she broke Friedsam's serve at the start of the third set the chance of a repeat began to fade away as the German's belief finally withered. Williams broke serve again to claim victory and she will next face either 27th seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus or Czech Lucie Hradescka.
Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki joined the exodus of women's seeds at the Open. The Dane was bundled out in the second round by Germany's Julia Goerges.
Wozniacki, seeded five, joined Romanian third seed Simona Halep, last year's runner-up, and number six Eugenie Bouchard of Canada, after a 6-4, 7-6(4) defeat on a blustery Phillipe Chatrier court.
Goerges, who has fallen to 72 in the rankings after rising into the top 20 in 2012, battled back from a break behind to clinch the opening set and then broke Wozniacki's serve at 5-5 in the second, only to falter when serving for the match.
She played a solid tiebreaker though to send Wozniacki spinning to a second successive early defeat at Roland Garros after she fell in the first round last year.
Sara Errani, the runner-up in 2012, avoided any mishaps though as the Italian beat Carina Witthoeft of Germany 6-4, 7-6(4).
Kvitova struggles to advance into third round
Czech fourth seed Petra Kvitova laboured into the third round as she overcame Spain's Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2.
The double Wimbledon champion, a semi-finalist on the Paris clay in 2012, made 54 unforced errors in a patchy display on a chilly court Suzanne Lenglen.
After two exchanges of breaks, the first set went into a tiebreak that the Spaniard easily won but Kvitova eventually found her range.
She ended the contest on her first match point to set up a meeting with Romanian 30th seed Irina-Camelia Begu or American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
