PARIS (Reuters) - France's Amelie Mauresmo showed glimpses of her past brilliance to reach the second round of the French Open with a 7-5 4-6 6-1 win over Ukraine's Olga Savchuk on Tuesday.

The former world number one, seeded 22nd, needed two hours and 29 minutes to down her opponent and book a second-round meeting with Spanish qualifier Carla Suarez Navarro, who beat France's Pauline Parmentier 6-4 5-7 6-2.

"There were ups and downs in the first two sets but obviously the third was much better," Mauresmo said in a courtside interview.

"I came here with little preparation, I had not worked on my serve because of my injury. Now, anything can happen, we'll see."

Mauresmo, who had not played since a Fed Cup tie in Japan last month because of an abdominal injury, dropped serve three times in a scrappy first set but managed to break four times to take the early initiative.

A bold Savchuk, however, piled on the pressure in the second set and broke decisively in the 10th game to level the contest.

Mauresmo, who has two grand slam titles to her name but has never progressed beyond the quarter-finals in Paris, found her flowing backhand in the decider to wrap it up on her third match point.

Compatriot Marion Bartoli, Wimbledon runner-up last year and seeded ninth, was facing Australian Casey Dellacqua on the Suzanne Lenglen court in another first-round match.

(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)