Rusty former World No. 1 Venus Williams said she was delighted to survive her opening-round match at the Cellular South Cup Monday night and believes the win will leave her in much better shape for Tuesday's second-round clash with 16-year-old Dane Caroline Wozniacki.

On Monday night in front of a capacity crowd of 5,200 at the Racquet Club of Memphis, Williams shrugged off an error-prone second set to defeat Japan's Akiko Morigami 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 in her first match in more than four months.

"I didn't know if I'd be here this week and then I win a match... it's so exciting. It's awesome, so awesome," Williams said.

"In the second set it was definitely a mental thing. The errors started coming and I had a weird service game where I threw in lots of double faults. It was just a matter of getting my game flowing again."

Williams's win marked a great start for the American women, with five of her compatriots also advancing to the second round.

Eighth seed Jill Craybass defeated Irish qualifier Kelly Liggan 6-4, 6-4 and said that she was relieved to advance. "It took me a little while to get going," Craybass said. "I wasn't feeling that great out there. My opponent played great and kept the pressure on; she made me come up with big shots at important points."

Sixth-seeded American Shennay Perry rallied from a set down to defeat Frenchwoman Youlia Fedossova 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-5. Perry, a Memphis quarterfinalist last year, claimed her first WTA match win of the 2007 season. Fedossova was the top seed in qualifying but lost in the final round of qualies before gaining passage to the main draw when second seed Tatiana Golovin withdrew due to an upper respiratory infection.

In an all-American first-round match, Bethanie Mattek took out veteran wild card Lisa Raymond 6-2, 7-5. American qualifier Angela Spears defeated countrywoman Vania King 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(0). American Laura Granville defeated Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli 7-5, 4-6, 6-0.