Live Commentary: Serena Williams vs. Alize Lim - as it happened

Good afternoon. The world number one and defending champion Serena Williams will be getting her 2014 French Open campaign underway in the next few minutes as she faces French wildcard Alize Lim. The players should be making their way out onto court in the next couple of minutes.

While this is the Grand Slam tournament that Williams has won the least during her career, her record at the event is still rather impressive. In 12 appearances at Roland Garros, Williams has won the title twice, made one other semi-final appearance and had five quarter-final exits. However, her only ever first-round exit at one of the big four came in Paris in 2012.

The players are on court ready for their match. It's a big cheer from the crowd for the defending champion, who endeared herself to the Parisians last year, conducting her post-match interviews in French. They'll have a few minutes to warm up before getting their match underway.

Alize Lim is a name that might not be too familiar to even the most committed tennis fan. The 23-year-old mainly competes on the ITF circuit, where she has had some success in recent years. She appeared in three finals in 2013, winning one event, and is currently at her highest career ranking. This will be the first time that she's faced Williams as well as her first appearance in a Grand Slam. While the American is popular with the Roland Garros crowd, Lim should get plenty of support from her home fans too.

Right then, the warmups are complete so the match will get underway, with Serena Williams to serve first.

It's not a completely straight forward start for the top seed as she claims the first two points, but a couple of loose serves allow Lim to level the scores at 30-30. The American responds with a couple of big serves to wrap up the game, but taking a couple of points will be a confidence boost for the young Frenchwoman.

Lim is on the board with a comfortable opening srevice game. She controls Williams's powerful returns well and uses her speedy footwork behind the baseline to get herself into the position to make winners. This has certainly been a promising start from Lim.

The defending champion finds herself under pressure as she fires a shot wide before making a double fault to give Lim a 30-0 lead, but she finds her composure, getting herself back into the game with an ace before using her power to escape with her serve intact.

BREAK! Williams really hasn't settled yet, which she shows when she slices a backhand well wide at the start of the game, but a couple of well-placed forehands help her recover. Lim tries to catch Williams out with a drop shot, but the world number one races into the net to get the return in and manages to bring up her first break point of the match, but a long shot from Williams takes the game to deuce on the next point. Both players had chances to wrap up the game, but it was Williams who capitalised with a punchy backhand from the baseline to secure the break.

Williams is continuing to make too many unforced errors, giving Lim a 40-15 lead as the French player tried to break back. However, a fantastic forehand down the middle of the court from Williams followed by a long effort from Lim allowed the top seed to pull it back to deuce. Williams used her big serve to gain advantage before Lim fired long again, allowing the world number one to escape. That's a big game for both players, Lim could so easily have got the set back on serve there, but Williams's tenacity came through to leave her in control.

Lim has to stay well behind to baseline to give herself time to react to Williams's forehands, but she gets a lucky strike on the net chord to give her advantage before Williams's backhand crept just wide to allow Lim to hold.

Williams is having to fight for every point at the moment as Lim hasn't given up on this set. The French player makes her opponent run the length of the baseline before the world number one fires wide, but Williams kept her cool to find a big serve, which Lim returned long.

Trying to wrap the opening set up, Williams edges ahead as she makes a stunning forehand down the sideline, but Lim keeps fighting to bring up deuce. Williams fired her backhand into the net to give Lim advantage, but kept herself in the game with some good play at the net. A careless errors from Lim gives Williams set point, which she takes with a fierce forehand. It certainly hasn't been as straight forward as the scoreline suggests, but Williams is half way there.

The stats from the first set are interesting, Williams made 17 winners to Lims's three, but also had 23 unforced errors, while her opponent made just seven.

Williams begins the second set with a hold of serve, but again it was far from comfortable, she really hasn't been at her best so far this afternoon, but may just be trying to save her best tennis for later in the tournament.

BREAK! That's much better from Williams! The world number one is immediately looking to attack Lim's serve and gives herself two break points with some solid play at the net. A poor serve form Lim allows Williams to pounce at the net again and get a break early in this set.

Williams makes her second double fault of the match, but turns to her backhand to get her back in the game, while also serving an ace down the middle of the court. Williams relies on her big serve again to wrap up the game, with the Frenchwoman unable to make the return.

At 30-30, Williams makes a mistake on her backhand, slicing the ball into the net. Lim misses her first serve while trying to close out the game, but finds a good second serve before following it up with a forehand winner to get on the board in the second set.

Williams seems to just be cruising towards the second round, knowing that she just needs to do enough on her own serve to seal the win. The American has one of her most comfortable service games of the match, allowing Lim just a point as she keeps her forehand tidy.

BREAK! Williams appears to have gone up a gear as she races to a 40-15 lead to leave her opponent facing to more break points. However, Lim produces some testing forehands to level the scores. Lim had a chance to wrap up the game, but Williams went up a level again to get another break, and she will be serving for the match next.

Both players are really battling here. Lim had two break points at 40-15 but has since faced a ferocious fight back from Williams, saving two match points along the way, but the Frenchwoman now has a third chance to break back.

Since pulling the game back to deuce, Williams has now had four match points saved. Lim is giving everything she has to try to extend this match, and the world number one is starting to look a little frustrated.

With her sixth match point, Serena Williams finally manages to serve out her match against the world number 138 Alize Lim. The scoreline certainly flatters the defending champion, she was far from her best this afternoon, and had to fight for every game, but she had enough to find a way into the second round, where she will face either compatriot Grace Min or Spain's Garvine Muguruza.

Well that's all from this match, but stick around to read match reports from today's matches involving all of the top seeds in both draws. Thanks for joining me this afternoon, goodbye.