Three-times champion Rafael Nadal made heavy weather of his first-round match before recording a 7-5 6-3 6-1 win over Brazilian qualifier Thomaz Bellucci at the French Open.

In a match which lasted two hours and 34 minutes on court but spanned for two days thanks to the miserable weather at this year's tournament, the Spaniard struggled to impose himself in the opening set before sealing victory when Bellucci smacked a backhand long.

The second seed will aim to extend his perfect Roland Garros record to 23-0 when he faces French qualifier Nicolas Devilder for a place in the third round.

Unlike the holder, world number three Novak Djokovic wasted little time to a comprehensive 6-1 6-1 6-3 demolition of Spanish qualifier Miguel Angel Lopez Jaen and advance to the third round.

Serbian Djokovic will next meet either American wild card Wayne Odesnik.

It was all too easy on Court One for the Australian Open champion, who did not face a single break point and punished his opponent with 26 winners.

Lopez Jaen was totally outclassed in the first two sets and briefly threatened a fightback in the third, holding serve to 3-3 before going down after only 80 minutes.

Czech Tomas Berdych became the highest men's seed to exit when he lost 6-3 4-6 5-7 6-3 6-4 to local favourite Michael Llodra in the second round.

The 11th seed overcame a slow start to gain the upper hand going into the fourth set. From then on though he started to miscue his shots in a scrappy encounter on court two.

Berdych won 143 points against 134 bagged by the error-prone Llodra but that was still not enough to take him through.

Roared on by a vocal crowd, the Frenchman clinched victory with a service winner after three hours six minutes. He next faces Italy's Simone Bolelli.

Earlier, Lleyton Hewitt refused to allow gusting winds, lack of claycourt practice or a vocal partisan crowd to throw him off course.

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 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.

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.

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