• French Open, Day One

Federer waltzes into second round

Federer only dropped seven games in his opening match at the French Open © AP

Enlarge

Related Links

• News: Nadal survives scare to see off Brands
  
• News: Robson undone by Wozniacki in Paris
  
• Features: Federer to fight, Hewitt hit and Williams ditches ghost
  
• News: Imperious Williams dismisses Tatishvili
  
• News: What They Said: Williams and Federer reflect on wins
  
• Profile: Roger Federer

Roger Federer is safely through to the second round of the French Open after a convincing 6-2 6-2 6-3 win over Pablo Carreno-Busta.

World No. 3 Federer has not lost in the opening round of a grand slam since falling to a straight sets defeat to Luis Horna in Paris in 2003, and has won 39 consecutive first round matches since Wimbledon in the same year.

The second seed made it 40 with a routine victory over Spanish qualifier Carreno-Busta. After racing into a five-love lead in the first set, Federer was barely tested until being broken in sixth game of the match.

It did not faze the Swiss, however, as Federer soon closed out the opening set, hitting ten winners and two aces.

Carreno-Busta, playing in his first major tournament, struggled to contain Federer's dominance and was soon pegged back once more in the second. Federer earned another early break point, drawing his 21-year-old opponent to the net with a stunning drop shot before closing out to secure the advantage.

It looked all too much for the young Spaniard, as Federer continued to dominate in front of the Paris crowd and moved two sets up within the hour.

It soon became something of an exhibition match for the record 17-time grand slam champion who, sporting a violet bandana as voted for by his recently acquired Twitter following, barely broke sweat in the third.

Federer showed classy court movement which his opponent could not match, and soon closed out victory in one hour and 20 minutes with a fearsome backhand down the line to advance to the second round.

Elsewhere, Gilles Simon came back from two sets down to defeat Lleyton Hewitt 3-6 1-6 6-4 6-1 7-5 in a thrilling encounter on the Court Suzanne Lenglen. Australian Hewitt raced into a two set lead in just over an hour, but 15th seed Simon took the vital third to keep the match alive before levelling up. The Frenchman sealed victory in a final set which lasted almost an hour, despite Hewitt fighting back from five-love down.

Fourth seed David Ferrer continued his recent good form on the clay courts with an impressive 6-4 6-3 6-4 victory over Marinko Matosevic. Ferrer has twice pushed Rafael Nadal on the surface in his last two tournaments, first at the Madrid Open and then in Rome, and successfully avoided a potential upset from Australian Matosevic.

Milos Raonic overcame a tough challenge from Xavier Malisse and booked his spot in the second round with a 6-2 6-1 4-6 6-4 win.

Former Queen's champion Sam Querrey started his French Open campaign with a 6-3 6-3 6-4 dismissal of Slovenia's Lukas Lacko in less than an hour and half on Court Seven.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.