Defending champion Roberta Vinci rallied for a 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Mathilde Johansson of France in the first round of the Barcelona Open on Monday.
Johansson broke twice for a 5-0 lead in the first set with the Italian failing to land less than 50 percent of her first serves.
The fourth-seeded Vinci came back in the second set with two breaks of her own, then cruised home in the final set after Johansson served six double faults.
Vinci also won here in 2009, and improved her tournament record to 15-1.
Earlier, Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic and Sara Errani of Italy beat unseeded opponents.
The sixth-seeded Cetkovska overcame a shaky finish to oust Shahar Peer of Israel 6-1, 5-7, 7-5, and the seventh-seeded Errani defeated Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Cetkovska wasted three match points at 5-2 in the third set to allow Peer to pull even at 5-all. The Israeli, however, immediately dropped serve and lost the match when she sent a return into the net.
Errani needed more than two hours to overcome Begu, whose erratic serve yielded five aces and four double faults.
Also, Simona Halep of Romania saved seven break points en route to downing American teenager Sloane Stephens 6-4, 6-4.
