The French Open headlines from Tuesday, May 29 were all some rendition of how previous French Open champion Serena Williams fell to world no.115 in three sets on Tuesday afternoon. And for good reason; Serena was one of three favorites to win the French Open, among no.1 Victoria Azarenka, who has posted an impressive 2012 campaign, and no.2 Maria Sharapova, who has improved her clay court game dramatically since previous years.

However, the hidden headline came from Court Philippe Chatrier, where Victoria Azarenka came within a stunning two games of losing to the Italian Alberta Brianti, who had earned the win before crumbling in the spotlight.

The Belarusian Azarenka claimed the no.1 throne last year, where she aggressively stood on the baseline point after point. She won the Australian Open Major title to start 2012 and secure this no.1 spot. Every indicator pointed to Azarenka breezing through the first round at Roland Garros.

But this was not the case.

Brianti grit her teeth in the first set, going up and down with Azarenka, solidly returning deep in the court only to draw “Vika” to the net with masterful drop shots. The set went to tiebreak. After Azarenka went up 5-2 in the breaker, Brianti played a flurry of no.1 caliber points to take the first set over Azarenka 8-6 in the tiebreak.

The pressure on Vika began to take its toll as she stubbornly tried harder to blow winners by the Italian Brianti to no avail. Azarenka’s game was sloppy and disjointed and she went down 0-4 to Brianti in the second set, two games away from getting knocked out of the French Open by the Italian player.

After saving break point to prevent going down 0-5 to Brianti, Azarenka suddenly found a calmer demeanor, as she won 6 straight games, taking command of the match by tying it up at one set apiece.

She had reduced her unforced error count and chose better times to hit winners, crafting points on the red clay to her liking. It was much better clay court tennis.

Brianti, despite flashes of brilliance for the first set and much of the second set, could not find her comfort zone under the pressure of toppling the world no.1. She had practically won the match over Vika when she went up 4-0 in the second, but could not shut the door.

And the no.1 Belarusian took over from there, winning the third set handily at 6-2.

It was exciting not only to see a potential upset in the making, but also to see the world no.1 for the women grit out a match and display the mental command necessary to come back from a seemingly improbably 0-4 second set comeback. This comeback portends good things to come for Vika, who seeks her second consecutive Major title of the year.

Sure enough, Azarenka handily won Wednesday 6-1, 6-1 in the second round.

Look for her in the semifinals and finals to contend for the French Open title, so long as Vika can put her first round woes behind her.