TENNIS/French Open:Venus Williams had good reason for talking cautiously yesterday. Even after her 6-4, 6-3 first-round win against French 17-year-old Alize Cornet, few now talk about the American as a Grand Slam champion.

It is a harsh judgment and perhaps a wrong one for a 26-year-old, who has already won five major titles. But it is an opinion that comes on the back of the American's long list of injuries, the most recent of which ensured that her 2007 season did not start until February and that her entry to Roland Garros came accompanied by only a single title won this year, a tier three level event (below tour level) in Memphis.

In 2006 the older Williams sister finished the season outside the top 15 for the first time in nine years because of wrist and elbow injuries to her right arm.

Because of that she withdrew from tournaments in Antwerp, Dubai, Miami and Charleston and then lost in the third round of her defence of the Wimbledon crown. It was the first time since 1997 that a Williams didn't feature in the second week of the competition.

Injury then struck again, this time in her left wrist, and Williams was forced to pull out of tournaments in San Diego, Los Angeles, Montreal and the US Open. She came back to lose once in Luxembourg before again withdrawing from events in Stuttgart and Moscow.

It was little surprise then that yesterday's opening match was one fraught with possibilities, with the conditions cold and slow and with a young hopeful across the net from her, Williams might easily have tripped.

As it went on, however, her power was too great for the youngster and once refined in the second set, the accuracy finally came. While Cornet held Williams to 4-4 in the first set, the American persevered with her aggressive game until the shots started hitting.

The second set was more within her control and the 118th-ranked French opponent simply couldn't deal with the bigger, more destructive game.

Afterwards Williams said: "I feel good. I think the most important thing is that I am on tour and as long as I am on tour I feel that good things can happen to me.

"So it's important for me to stay in the tournaments and be healthy . . . just staying healthy and that I have the opportunity to prepare and then obviously that I have the opportunity to come to play."

Seeded 26, she is one of the few players through to the second round of the rain-hit tournament, where only seven matches were completed yesterday. She is not scheduled to meet her sister Serena until the semi-final, but a second-round win against fellow American, Ashley Harkleroad, would likely see her up against Serb Jelena Jankovic in the third round. Jankovic has just recently cracked the top five for the first time in her career. Williams will then know if she is still Grand Slam material.

No such defining questions are being asked of Roger Federer, who spent scant time on court Philippe Chatrier before the rain spilled. Federer was scorching journeyman American Michael Russell 4-1 in the second set, having taken the first 6-4, when the covers were pulled.

Russell is best known as the player to have match point against the eventual champion Gustavo Kuerten in the last 16 in 2001.

But his high work rate for the hour or so he was on court didn't suggest that when they return today to complete the match he is likely to undermine the lofty ambitions of the Swiss player, who at one is seeded higher than his main threat Rafael Nadal.

But where Federer's first-round match was fractured, the player people talk about as the main threat to the top two, Nikolay Davydenko, shot through his opening match against Stefano Galvani.

Seeded four, the Russian cleared the Italian out of the competition 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 in just one hour and 31 minutes.

Naturally, his rise to the position of threatening the two dominant forces was flattering.

"If Nadal and Federer are really scared of me, it's nice," said Davydenko, who arrived at Roland Garros at 10.55am for his 11.00am match after becoming snarled in Parisian traffic.

Now he can relax as Federer and Nadal face the work load.