Lleyton Hewitt did not allow gusting winds, lack of claycourt practice or a vocal partisan crowd to throw him off course at the French Open.

The Australian, who missed the entire claycourt season in the run-up to Roland Garros because of a hip injury, breezed into the second round with a 6-4 6-2 6-4 win over local hope Nicolas Mahut.

Hewitt's participation at the claycourt Grand Slam had been in doubt until the last minute but on Wednesday he barely broke sweat as he ran his opponent ragged on Court One.

He sealed the match after two hours and will next face American Mardy Fish or Agustin Calleri of Argentina.

Former champion Juan Carlos Ferrero's French Open campaign, meanwhile, ended in the first round when he quit with a leg injury.

Ferrero was leading 7-6 2-2 against Brazilian journeyman Marcos Daniel when he began to limp around court and moments later he shook his head and told the umpire he could no longer continue.

The Spaniard captured his sole grand slam title here in 2003 and had never lost in the first round in any of his previous eight visits to Roland Garros.

On Wednesday, he looked to be in control of the match after recovering from 3-1 down in the first set to take it on a tiebreak but said later that he first felt a twinge midway through the first set and the pain got progressively worse.

Another Spaniard David Ferrer fared better, smoothly progressing with a 6-3 6-4 6-3 over Belgian Steve Darcis.

The fifth-seeded Ferrer next meets Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, a 7-6 6-1 6-4 winner of Russian Evgeny Korolev.

Ferrer, who is in the same half of the draw as world number one Roger Federer, snuffed out Darcis's resistance with his devastating forehand, breaking five times and dropping serve only once.

Former world number one Marat Safin, meanwhile, recovered from a shaky start to reach the second round with a 6-7 6-1 6-3 6-2 victory over Monaco's Jean-Rene Lisnard.

Twice Grand Slam winner Safin will next meet fellow Russian and fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko for a third-round spot.

By the time rain ended play on Tuesday, Safin had already gained the upper hand in the match after losing the opening-set tiebreak 7-5.

He returned to the Suzanne Lenglen Court with all guns blazing as the mild weather made a welcome return to the French capital and finished off his opponent with a series of sharp forehand winners after two hours and 51 minutes.

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Reuters