French Open:Novak Djokovic did not have to work too hard to book his place in the second round of the French Open. The fourth-seeded Serb only played a set and a half before opponent Nicolas Lapentti quit their encounter due to an ankle injury. Two of the leading French hopes, Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, also made it through to the second round.
Djokovic was leading 6-3 3-1 when the Ecuadorian decided to call it a day.
Lapentti, playing in his 13th French Open, had sustained the injury when trailing 5-2 in the first set. He pulled up sharply and immediately called for the trainer.
The treatment revealed the ankle was already heavily strapped and although Lapentti opted to continue, the joint was clearly still causing him problems - not to mention Djokovic's impressive tennis.
The writing was on the wall when Djokovic broke in the opening game of the second set and three games later the players were shaking hands at the net.
"I would have loved to have had more points and stayed a little bit longer on court,'' admitted Djokovic afterwards.
"But, having said that, we didn't have a lot of rallies today because of the conditions. They were strange and difficult to play.
"I needed a little more time to get into a rhythm.''
Djokovic will now play Sergiy Stakhovsky, a four-set winner over Brian Dabul, in the second round.
Monfils arrived at Roland Garros nursing a knee injury and although the 11th seed admitted feeling the problem towards the end of his 6-2 6-3 6-1 win over American Bobby Reynolds, he was happy with the win.
“During the rallies I was there, I was into the game,” said last year’s semi-finalist. “Physically I now know I can play an hour and a half and I still have some reserves. I have more in me.”
Ninth seed Tsonga, back in Paris after a three-year absence because of injury, won his first match at his home grand slam, defeating compatriot Julien Benneteau 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4.
Earlier, fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro had to endure two stoppages for rain before easing through at the expense of another Frenchman, Michael Llodra.
The Argentinian was a comfortable 6-3 6-3 6-1 winner on Court One but the inclement weather tested his patience.
Beginning their match under grey skies, the players went off after 20 minutes of action — at 11.30am local time — because of rain with Del Potro 3-1 ahead.
He resumed two hours later to take the first two sets but went off for a short five-minute spell as another shower came and went.
Del Potro breezed through the third set to clinch a round-two clash with Viktor Troicki.
The 20-year-old said: “I feel good. What I did well is play well in the moments I had to, and that was enough.”
Mardy Fish (22) and Rainer Schuettler (27) were seeded casualties on the tournament’s third day of action.
America’s Fish was defeated in four sets by Maximo Gonzalez while Germany’s Schuettler, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon last year, only narrowly avoided a ‘triple bagel’.
He was still humiliated 6-0 6-0 6-4 by France’s Marc Gicquel nonetheless.
Sixteenth seed Tommy Robredo was a convincing 6-2 6-1 6-2 winner against France’s Adrian Mannarino and Philipp Kohlschreiber, the 29th seed, thrashed Bernard Tomic in straight sets.
Elsewhere, unseeded Argentinian Juan Monaco — a dangerous floater in the draw — eased past Marcos Baghdatis 6-3 6-2 6-4 and 2003 champion Juan Carlos Ferrero overcame Ivan Ljubicic in five sets.