American Rogers had not played since undergoing knee surgery after sustaining an injury at the 2018 Indian Wells Open, where she suffered a first-round loss.
But the Charleston native made a winning comeback on Monday, triumphing 6-4 6-2 against Rodina at the WTA Premier tournament.
“I don’t remember the last time I cried after winning a first set. It’s kind of embarrassing to be honest!” said Rogers, who will meet Jelena Ostapenko in the second round after the 10th seed defeated Johanna Larsson 6-1 6-4. “It was a great moment, I enjoyed every second of it - even when I got broken. That’s part of it.
“It’s all those feelings I missed so much: the adrenaline, the nerves, the excitement, everything. You can’t recreate that outside of the arena.”
Belinda Bencic – the ninth seed – eased past Australian qualifier Destanee Aiava 6-3 6-0 in her Charleston opener on clay.
Fellow seeds Sofia Kenin and Ajla Tomljanovic also progressed with wins over Sabine Lisicki (7-5 6-4) and Magda Linette (6-2 7-6 (9-7)) respectively.
In Monterrey, 2016 runner-up and sixth seed Flipkens accounted for Serbian teenager Olga Danilovic 6-2 6-1 to set up a clash with either Dalila Jakupovic or Harriet Dart.
Slovak eighth seed Magdalena Rybarikova rallied past Misaki Doi 2-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4, while last year’s finalist Timea Babos was upstaged by Ivana Jorovic 2-6 6-4 6-3.
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