France's top player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga began his bid for French Open glory on Sunday with a four-set win.
Tsonga progressed to round two at Roland Garros but not before a first-set scare against the little-known Andrey Kuznetsov.
Using go-for-broke tactics, the Russian qualifier made a storming start, cracking 17 winners in the first set to break Tsonga twice. He also managed to save eight break points as he took the set 6-1.
The scoreline did not reflect the closeness of the contest and Tsonga soon hit back. Kuznetsov began to hit more unforced errors than winners and the fifth seed's class began to tell.
After levelling the match at one set all, he took control to record a 1-6 6-3 6-2 6-4 victory on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Tsonga admitted he was worried by Kuznetsov's start but realised the world number 160 could not keep it up.
"At the beginning I thought, OK, I need to put more intensity on my first serve or on the first two shots in the rallies," he said.
"And it worked OK. But by doing that he started scoring quite a few points. Against such a player, you feel let's wait for the storm to be over and in half an hour I'll see what's going on."
There was also joy for France's Nicolas Mahut, who took out former US Open champion Andy Roddick.
Mahut, who out-aced his big-serving opponent, triumphed 6-3 6-3 4-6 6-2 as Roddick's claycourt woes returned.
The Frenchman, ranked 88 in the world and most famous for his record-breaking marathon match with John Isner at Wimbledon, edged two tight opening sets.
Roddick hit back to gain the break at the right time and take the third but with Mahut superior on serve and with his groundstrokes, there was an air of inevitability in the fourth.
All in all, Roddick was broken seven times - surrendering his famous serve in the last game as he slumped out in disappointing style.
Roddick, who recently spent two months on the sidelines with a hip injury, said: "I lost a match to a guy who played better than I did. I made a choice. I played. I'm fine. I lost.
"I move just horrendously out here. My first step is just so bad on this stuff. I feel like I'm always shuffling or hopping or not stopping or something. So my footwork on this stuff now is just really bad."
