Rafael Nadal kicked off his campaign for a record 10th French Open trophy with an easy win of 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 against host player Benoit Paire under two hours in men's singles first round on Monday.

The fourth seed won 8 out of 18 break points, and was only contested in the second set, where he was broken twice by the Frenchman and trailed 3-1.

The Spanish star came back into the game to level the score at 4-4, before taking the next two games for a two-set lead.

"At the start, I always feel happy about the victory. He's an uncomfortable opponent that already had some good victories this year," said Nadal.

"I played a very good first set. During the second I suffered a little bit bad point. After that I made the break straight and then finished a close set, then it was a little bit less difficult," he added.

Nadal's opponent in the second round will be Robin Haase of the Netherlands, who defeated Australian Alex De Minaur 6-2, 6-3, 6-1.

"It's important to serve a little bit better than what I did today," commented Nadal.

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