Federer off to 'perfect' start but Serena is made to work for her win

The Swiss star was rarely troubled in a 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 success on the Philippe Chatrier Court that sets up a second-round match with Colombia's Alejandro Falla.

World No 1 Federer hailed the match as the "perfect" opener to what he hopes will be a two-week stay at Roland Garros.

"The beginning is always important, coming back as defending champion and trying to get off to a good start," he said. "I served well. I never really got a chance on my serve, so I was pretty relaxed"

Novak Djokovic survived a second-set wobble to book his place in the second round with a four-set victory over Evgeny Korolev. The third seed and former Australian Open champion won 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 on Suzanne Lenglen Court to set up a meeting with either Kei Nishikori or Santiago Giraldo.

Djokovic looked like steamrollering his opponent after racing to a set and a break lead. But the Serbian lost six of the next seven games as Korolev – a cousin of Anna Kournikova – went for broke, especially on his forehand. That was as good as it got for the world No 73 as Djokovic regained his stranglehold.

Feliciano Lopez became the second seeded casualty in the men's draw when the famously clay-shy Spaniard was dumped out 6-1 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 by Julian Reister.

Otherwise, the day belonged to Slovakia's Lukas Lacko, who finally saw off American Michael Yani in a match carried over from Sunday. At four hours and 56 minutes, the contest was the joint longest in the Open era at Roland Garros, Lacko winning 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (5/7), 12-10.

Among the seeds safely through were Tomas Berdych (15), who beat Jorge Aguilar 7-6 (9/7) 6-3, 6-1, John Isner (17), who saw off Andrey Golubev 6-4, 6-3 6-2, Stanislas Wawrinka (20), who got past Jan Hajek 6-1, 6-3 6-3, and Marcos Baghdatis (25), who was a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 winner against Jesse Witten.

In the women's draw, Serena Williams was given a stern examination by Swiss youngster Stefanie Voegele. The top seed, who is looking for her second Roland Garros crown after winning the title for the only time in 2002, has struggled with injury since clinching the Australian Open in January. And she certainly did not have things all her own way against Voegele, particularly in the first set, but she did enough to come through 7-6 (7/2), 6-2.

Williams will face Germany's Julia Goerges in the second round.

A spirited second-set display was not enough for Elena Baltacha as she lost out to eighth seed Agnieszka Radwanska.

A tough draw for the Scot, who was making her main draw debut at Roland Garros, was emphasised in a 24-minute first set in which she did not win a game. Memories of Anne Keothavong's 'double bagel' 6-0, 6-0 defeat by Dinara Safina last year came flooding back but Baltacha was far from finished. The world No 62 got on the board with two consecutive games and from then on it was nip and tuck. But Baltacha could not take advantage of a break-point chance at 5-5 and, despite coming back from 0-40 down in the next game, it was not enough as she fell to a 6-0, 7-5 defeat. "I wish there was another set, because that would have been interesting," said Baltacha. "It was kind of like the momentum started kind of going my way."

Baltacha's loss, which followed Keothavong's on Sunday, means Katie O'Brien, who faces Jill Craybas today, is the last remaining British woman in the draw.