Seeds make hay

Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin del Potro and Gael Monfils were relentless as they sealed their places in round two of the French Open on Tuesday.

Fourth seed Djokovic was in full control of his first-round match against Nicolas Lapentti when the Ecuadorian called it quits midway through the second set because of a left ankle injury.

The Serbian was leading 6-3 3-1 at that stage and was cantering to success in windy conditions on Philippe Chatrier court.

Earlier, Del Potro, the fifth seed, had to endure two stoppages for rain before easing through at the expense of France's Michael Llodra.

The Argentinian was a comfortable 6-3 6-3 6-1 winner on Court One but the inclement Paris weather tested his patience.

Beginning their match under grey skies, the players went off after 20 minutes of action - at 11.30am local time - with Del Potro 3-1 ahead.

He resumed two hours later to take the first two sets but went off for a short five-minute spell as another shower came and went.

Del Potro breezed through the third set to clinch a round-two clash with either Lukasz Kubot or Viktor Troicki.

Monfils is one of three Frenchmen in the top 11 of the rankings, along with Gilles Simon and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

James Blake, the 15th seed, joined fellow Americans Mardy Fish and Bobby Reynolds on the Roland Garros scrapheap after he was beaten 7-6 (8/6) 7-5 6-2 by Argentina's Leonardo Mayer.