Rafael Nadal produced an imperious show to secure his 300th Grand Slam match victory, dismantling local hope Corentin Moutet 6-3 6-1 6-4 to book his spot in the French Open third round.
Nadal counts 13 Roland Garros titles among his overall 21 Majors - the highest among men - and despite his injury-blighted buildup to the clay court tournament he has looked at his usual best in the first two rounds.
The Spaniard, who turns 36 next week, will next meet Dutch 26th seed Botic van de Zandschulp with a potential quarter-final looming against world number one Novak Djokovic who defeated him in last year's semi-finals.
Meanwhile, world No.1 Novak Djokovic has completed a solid 6-2 6-3 7-6(4) victory over Slovakia's Alex Molcan in the second round of the French Open to keep his title defence and quest for a record-equalling 21st Grand Slam on track.
With Djokovic unable to defend his Australian Open title due to his COVID-19 anti-vax stance, Spaniard Rafa Nadal broke a threeway tie for the most Grand Slam titles with the Serb and Roger Federer by winning at Melbourne in January.
Yet a successful rerun of his 2021 Roland Garros campaign, when he beat 13-time French Open winner Nadal in the semi-finals, would lift Djokovic alongside his great rival.
The top seed will next meet Slovenian world No.195 Aljaz Bedene for a place in the fourth round.
Earlier, US Open champion Emma Raducanu was bundled out in the second round, losing 3-6 6-1 6-1 to inspired Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich.
The 12th-seeded Briton, who had to dig deep in her opening match to come from a set down against Czech qualifier Linda Noskova, faded badly after a strong start, as her opponent exposed her inexperience on clay.
Despite the defeat, Raducanu says she will take plenty from it.
"Before, I would let the losses affect me more than right now," she said. "Now I look at everything as a lesson, and know exactly where I went wrong and where I can improve.
"I definitely look at these matches as a way to improve my own game. I am playing good tennis, training well.
"It might not show straight away. There is a little time lag between when they will actually produce results on a live situation."
Elsewhere, third seed and 2021 semi-finalist Alexander Zverev rallied from two sets down to beat Argentina's Sebastian Baez 2-6 4-6 6-1 6-2 7-5 in 3h 36m.
The German was 4-2 down in the deciding set, but fought back and saved a matchpoint, before wrapping up victory over his 21-year-old opponent.
"I lost a US Open final being two sets up and I've learned from it," said Zverev. "He [Baez] is unbelievable and he's got a bright future ahead of him.
"I just tried to fight. You have to win these kind of matches, when you're not playing well, because you can't always play well."
Reuters
