The lasting image of yesterday's play was Maria Sharapova conducting her balletic stretching exercises in the locker-room during a rain break, while her Czech opponent, Iveta Benesova, looked forlornly out the door at the cowering French folk in the open stand.

No, we didn't follow her into the changing rooms. French television has cameras everywhere. There is little evidence of the discreet broadcasting carried out by the BBC at Wimbledon. Their protocol is not to have cameras improperly focused on the Royal Box when the distinguished ladies are standing up and sitting down.

Sharapova's interest in this year's event continues to hinge on the wellbeing of her right foot, which she injured over a month before coming to Paris, as much as her ability to see off players ranked more than 100 places below her.

On both counts, she was satisfied with yesterday's efforts and subsequently acknowledged that, while she's not in pain with the heavily-taped foot, as she was in her first round match, she isn't able to move freely around court.

In essence, Sharapova is gambling on having an easy week against wild cards, qualifiers and those like Benesova, who are ranked outside the top 50, before she begins to hit the more serious turbulence of the seeded players next week.

But winning 6-4, 6-1 in her first tournament on clay this year will have stiffened confidence, something that she's not usually short on, but given her forced break before Paris and, prior to that, a succession of injuries, the Sharapova mind is more brittle than usual.

"I haven't had a lot of matches, don't know what to expect with injury," said the fourth seed. "The way I'm playing, confidence basically doesn't exist. You know that maybe you have a weakness in your game. Even though you have that weakness and you know about it, you don't want anybody to know.

"Playing the first round, like I did two days ago, I was nervous. Unfortunately, the first game you are going to play on clay is a grand slam. You're nervous."

Roland Garros is the only major in which Sharapova has not been able to make the semi-final, and has departed at the quarter-final stage last year and the year before.

But if it works out like it did in 2004, the teenager won't be that displeased. That year she was knocked out in Paris by Paola Suarez less than five weeks before winning the Wimbledon title as a 17-year-old, the third youngest woman in history to do so.

The world number one and the player France always looks to could be the player Sharapova must beat if she is to advance to the final. Amelie Mauresmo, who is contesting her home grand slam for the first time as the number one seed, is scheduled to meet the Russian at the semi-final stage.

Yesterday Mauresmo whizzed through the first set 6-1 against Vera Dushevina, one of 13 Russian players in the draw, before struggling in the second as the 19-year-old found her bearings and the number one lost hers.

Mauresmo broke Dushevina's serve in the second set before dropping her own and finally winning the match on a tie-break.

"I struggled a lot in the second set," said Mauresmo.

"I probably needed to stay a little more focused to make sure not to do so many errors. But I was able to control the key moments. That's what made the difference in that second set."

Like Sharapova, Mauresmo's relationship with confidence can be fractious.

"You think more, you're struggling a little bit more. You don't feel these things I guess when you are 100 per cent confident," she said.