The 26-year-old Gaudio, seeded fifth, needed time to get going but then dominated his unheralded opponent to win in just over two hours.
Gaudio has won three titles this year and is second only to Spaniard Rafael Nadal for claycourt success in 2005, bringing to Paris a 26-6 win-loss record on the surface.
Also read: Myskina loses in first round
Results from the Men's Singles Round 1 matches:
1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Dudi Sela (Israel) 6-1 6-4 6-0
4-Rafael Nadal (Spain) beat Lars Burgsmueller (Germany) 6-1 7-6(4) 6-1
5-Gaston Gaudio (Argentina) beat Julien Benneteau (France) 7-5 6-0 6-1
7-Tim Henman (Britain) beat Juan Pablo Brzezicki (Argentina) 6-2 6-1 6-4
10-David Nalbandian (Argentina) beat Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) 0-6 6-4 6-4 6-4
14-Carlos Moya (Spain) beat Alberto Martin (Spain) 5-7 6-1 6-4 6-2
16-Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) beat Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) 3-6 6-3 6-1 6-1
Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia and Montenegro) beat 17-Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) 6-7(5) 6-3 3-6 6-3 8-6
18-Mario Ancic (Croatia) beat Marcos Daniel (Brazil) 6-2 6-1 7-6(4)
20-David Ferrer (Spain) beat Jiri Vanek (Czech Republic) 2-6 7-6(8) 6-4 6-0
23-Sebastien Grosjean (France) beat Juan Monaco (Argentina) 7-5 6-3 6-1
25-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) beat Michael Llodra (France) 7-6 6-3 6-2
Richard Gasquet (France) beat Daniele Bracciali (Italy) 3-6 6-3 6-2 6-4
Davide Sanguinetti (Italy) beat Thierry Ascione (France) 3-6 5-7 6-0 6-3 6-4
Florent Serra (France) beat Andrei Pavel (Romania) 6-2 6-2 6-3
Olivier Patience (France) beat Gilles Simon (France) 6-2 6-2 4-6 6-3
Nicolas Almagro (Spain) beat Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) 7-6(4) 6-4 6-3
Tomas Behrend (Germany) beat Christophe Rochus (Belgium) 4-6 6-2 7-5 6-2
Fernando Vicente (Spain) beat Hugo Armando (United States) 7-6(2) 6-4 2-6 4-6 6-3
Robin Vik (Czech Republic) beat Kevin Kim (United States) 6-4 7-6(6) 7-5
Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) beat Jeff Morrison (United States) 6-3 6-2 6-4
Oscar Hernandez (Spain) beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver (Spain) 6-7(4) 6-0 6-3 6-4
Luis Horna (Peru) beat Jerome Haehnel (France) 7-6 7-5 6-3
Xavier Malisse (Belgium) beat Mardy Fish (United States) 6-2 6-1 6-1
Peter Wessels (Netherlands) beat Ricardo Mello (Brazil) 6-4 6-1 6-3
