Images: Djokovic, Schiavone off to a blazing start

Holder Francesca Schiavone whizzed past American Melanie Oudin 6-2, 6-0 to reach the second round of the French Open in Paris, on Monday.

On a sunbathed court Philippe Chatrier, the Italian fifth seed dropped serve in the opening game but was quick to get her act together and never looked back.

Schiavone wrapped up a routine win after only 62 minutes with a service winner.

She will next face either Briton Anne Keothavong or Russia's Vesna Dolonts.

Photographs: Reuters

Novak Djokovic scorched a path into the French Open second round with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Thiemo de Bakker as his red-hot streak showed no signs of burning out in warm sunshine.

The Serbian second seed racked up his 38th straight win since the start of the season against the helpless Dutchman, who had one break point late in the second set when what he thought was a booming winner turned out to be just over the line.

Djokovic, dressed all in white on court Philippe Chatrier, broke as soon as he could in the first two sets and barely had to get out of second gear with his ground strokes and net play equally assured.

France's Benoit Paire or Romanian Victor Hanescu will be his next opponent as Australian Open champion Djokovic, constantly improving on clay, bids for his first Roland Garros title.

Roger Federer reminded Roland Garros of his extraordinary abilities with a simple 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 win over Feliciano Lopez in the French Open first round.

All the talk in the run-up to the year's second Grand Slam had been about how in-form Djokovic could threaten Rafa Nadal's men's crown but third seed Federer showed he still has a part to play on the Parisian clay.

The 2009 winner needed a break in each of the first two sets to race ahead before triumphing in the tiebreak thanks to the Spaniard netting on his own serve and double-faulting.

The Swiss, who sealed victory with an effortless ace, next meets France's Maxime Teixeira.

Tomas Berdych became the first top-10 seed to fall at the French Open when he unexpectedly lost to qualifier Stephane Robert.

Czech Berdych, the sixth seed and a semi-finalist here last year, was beaten 3-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 9-7 on Court Two.

Frenchman Robert, who had won only one previous match on the ATP Tour this year, recovered from two sets down and a break down in the decider and saved a match point to book his place in the second round.

"I played my best tennis, I gave everything," Robert told a courtside interviewer after his victory over last year's Wimbledon runner-up in three hours and 23 minutes.