Claycourt master Rafael Nadal has started his quest for a record-extending 13th French Open title with a straightforward 6-4 6-4 6-2 first-round win over Belarusian Egor Gerasimov.
Looking to equal Roger Federer's record of 20 Grand Slam men's singles titles, the Spaniard is used to slow starts at Roland Garros and this year's debut was no different.
On the revamped Court Philippe Chatrier, where the roof stayed open throughout, Nadal converted all of his five break points to set up a meeting with American Mackenzie McDonald.
The second seed, who had complained about the new balls being too heavy, did not appear too bothered in front of some 200 fans, wrapping up the match with a service winner.
Nadal broke in the fifth game, as he bagged the opening set in solid fashion, and stole his opponent's serve again in the third game of the second.
With a mountain to climb after falling two sets behind and as blue skies ate away the dark clouds, Gerasimov broke for 2-0 in the third set.
But Nadal quickly regained control and levelled for 2-2, with Gerasimov twisting his ankle on the last point of the fourth game.
The physiotherapist taped the Belarusian's ankle and play resumed after a short interruption, with Nadal breaking again for 3-2.
Gerasimov's challenge was fading, as Nadal piled on the pressure to seal a routine win, moving a step closer to a potential semi-final with last year's runner-up Dominic Thiem.
Italian qualifier Lorenzo Giustino recovered from an opening-set bagel to edge home favourite Corentin Moutet 0-6 7-6(7) 7-6(3) 2-6 18-16 in a match that lasted 6h 5m on Court 14.
The fifth set alone lasted three hours and the two players shared a total of 11 break points.
The match was the second-longest encounter at Roland Garros, falling 28 minutes short of the 2004 first-round epic, when Fabrice Santoro beat French compatriot Arnaud Clement in 6h 33m.
Fabio Fognini was knocked out by Mikhail Kukushkin in the first round, with the Kazakh winning 7-5 3-6 7-6(1) 6-0 on Court Simonne Mathieu.
Ranked 14 in the world, Fognini has won only once in four tournaments now, since the season restarted last month, and the Italian 14th seed was far from his best, making 48 unforced errors.
Canadian youngster Felix Auger Aliassime was knocked out 7-5 6-3 6-3 by Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka.
Nishioka fired 30 winners past the 19th seed, who made 58 unforced errors and was broken six times.
US Open champion Dominic Thiem, twice French Open runner-up, recovered from a slow start to beat former world No.3 Marin Cilic 6-4 6-3 6-3 in just over two hours.
Fourth seed Daniil Medvedev suffered an opening round defeat for a fourth consecutive year at Roland Garros as he went down against Hungarian Marton Fucsovics 6-4 7-6(3) 2-6 6-1.
The 24-year-old Russian, who finished the match with 51 unforced errors, took a one point penalty for smashing his racket at the end of the second set tiebreak.
