Tuesday 26 May 2015 23:13, UK
Defending champion Rafael Nadal is safely through and here are the talking points from another eventful day at Roland Garros.
The Spaniard has been seeded at six for this year's tournament - his lowest for a decade - but he exuded his usual confidence in the French capital during a 6-3 6-3 6-4 win over Quentin Halys.
Nadal needed just one hour and 50 minutes to record his 67th career win in the tournament, setting up a second round meeting with compatriot Almagro.
Recent defeats have raised questions about whether Nadal can mount yet another successful defence of his crown, but he reminded critics of his tally of titles by wearing shoes with the number '9' stitched into his heels.
"I had some up and downs during the season so it is normal that can happen here but I am trying to avoid that," he said.
"I played a good match, a solid one. When I had some opportunities I seized them."
The biggest threat to Nadal's dominance is expected to be world No 1 Novak Djokovic, who started his quest for the elusive silverware with a straight sets win over Jarkko Nieminen.
Following a flying start to the year, Djokovic will be hoping to lift the French title for the first time, but he had to overcome a second set wobble during his 6-2 7-5 6-2 win over the Finn.
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Djokovic has been working with a tutor to improve his French, maybe with a post-final victory speech in mind, and delighted the home crowd with his linguistic prowess.
"I'm very excited to speak French," Djokovic told the fans. "Hopefully my teacher will say that I was good."
Dimitrov defeated
In the big upset of the day, American Jack Sock inflicted a straight sets defeat on 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov.
For the second straight year, Dimitrov suffered a first round exit as he slipped to a 7-6 6-2 6-3 loss.
Sock sent down booming serves of up to 136 mph and was successful on 19 of 25 trips to the net as he blasted past the Bulgarian in less than two hours.
Serena all smiles
Top seed Serena Williams could even enjoy a light-hearted moment as she swept to a 6-2 6-3 win over Andrea Hlavackova.
Williams blasted five aces and 25 winners past the outgunned Hlavackova, but briefly lost her focus duing a laughing fit when the ball took an awkward hop.
"I felt good," said the American, who showed no signs of any injury concerns. "I was really happy to get through that and see how my elbow was going to do."
Bouchard bows out
But Canada's Canadian sixth seed Eugenie Bouchard had little to smile about after she crashed out following a 6-4 6-4 defeat to Kristina Mladenovic.
The 2014 semi-finalist has only won three matches since February and found it hard to explain her sudden loss of form.
"I honestly don't know what to say," Bouchard said. "It's been kind of the same as how I have been feeling recently on the court. Just not like myself."
Ferrer through
Former French Open runner-up David Ferrer notched up his 300th clay-court victory when he swept past Slovakia's Lukas Lacko.
Ferrereased through against his 94th-ranked opponent 6-1 6-3 6-1 on Court Suzanne Lenglen to become just the second active player behind compatriot Nadal to win 300 matches on the surface.
In 13 straight appearances at the clay-court major, seventh-seeded Ferrer has always won his opening match and proved too powerful and speedy for the 27-year-old.
Also, US Open champion Marin Cilic defeated 80th-ranked Robin Haase 6-2 6-4 6-2.
The ninth-seeded Croat is playing in his first major of the year after missing the Australian Open because of a shoulder injury.
Awkward ending
Jerzy Janowicz aggressively grabbed opponent Maxime Hamou's hand when they met at the net after the Pole's 6-7 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win.
The pair then pointed at each other, exchanging glares while the crowd jeered, and Janowicz later explained that he has expected an apology when Hamou fired a return at him, despite the ball being called out.
