• French Open, Day One

Ferrer flies past Nieminen as Cilic crashes out

David Ferrer eased into the second round at the French Open © PA Photos

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French Open: Day One gallery

David Ferrer fired a warning to his rivals as the Spaniard kicked off his French Open campaign with an emphatic win over Jarkko Nieminen in Paris.

The seventh seed was the highest-ranked player in action on a low-key opening day at Roland Garros, and the Spaniard took full advantage of his star billing to rip through Nieminen 6-3 6-3 6-1.

Despite being considered a clay-court specialist, Ferrer, who has two titles to his name this season, has only reached the French Open quarter-finals on two occasions.

After a bright start, Ferrer finally forced a breakthrough to clinch his first break of the match to go 4-1 up, and never looked back as he wrapped up the opening set before forging ahead in the second. Nieminen had little answer to the lively Ferrer, and narrowly avoided the bagel in the final set as the Spanish No. 2 marched into the second round.

Ferrer will meet home favourite Julien Benneteau in the second round after the Frenchman was forced to battle from a set down to beat Portugal's Rui Machado 4-6 6-1 6-2 6-0.

It was a successful day for the Spanish contigent at Roland Garros as world No. 99 Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo claimed the first scalp of the tournament to send 19th seed Marin Cilic crashing out in straight sets. The Spaniard, who reached the fourth round on his only other appearance in the French Open main draw, made the most of a sluggish start by Cilic and held his nerve to claim a surprise 7-6 (5) 6-4 6-4 victory.

Ramirez Hidalgo will now meet compatriot Albert Montanes, who beat lucky loser Marc Gicquel 6-4 6-4 6-2 after Lleyton Hewitt withdrew at the last minute. Another Spaniard into the second round is 30th seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez after a 6-1 7-5 4-6 6-3 win over Robert Kendrick.

Stanislas Wawrinka survived an early wobble to progress with a 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-2 win over Frenchman Augustin Gensse. The Frenchman delighted the French crowds when he claimed the opening set, but Wawrinka battled back to seal his place in the second round.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga looked to be hitting form at the perfect time as he bounced into the second round with a 6-3 6-2 6-2 win over Jan Hajek. However, Ernests Gulbis failed to shake off a virus as he fell to a disappointing straight-sets defeat at the hands of Slovenia's Blaz Kavcic.

The first man to book his place in the second round was Japan's Kei Nishikori, who eased past Yen-Hsun Lu 6-1 6-3 6-4. Nishikori will meet Sergiy Stakhovsky after the Ukrainian ended Frenchman David Guez's hopes with a 6-7(7) 6-3 6-3 6-3 victory.

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