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Paris - British number one Andy Murray got his French Open campaign off to a winning start on Tuesday as he needed four sets to see off Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev 6-1, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
The Wimbledon champion reached the 2011 semi-finals on the Paris clay, his best result to date on his least favourite surface but he was given a stern workout by his world number 53 opponent.
A run to the Rome Masters quarter-finals where he was outlasted by Rafael Nadal losing 7-5 in the decider has given the Murray camp reason for optimism in his seventh appearance at the French.
Still without a coach since splitting with Ivan Lendl, he backed that up with a solid showing on the Suzanne Lenglen court, using a patient baseline game and winning just under 50 per cent of his opponents service to wrap up a place in the last 64.
"He's a tough player and very aggressive which put me on the back foot," said Murray.
"It was pretty windy and I had to be patient but I got the win. Last year was tough because I missed Roland Garros with my back injury and it was really hard to watch it on TV."
When asked about a future coach, Murray joked; "I'm looking but not many people want to work with me, hopefully soon."
Murray now meets either Australian Marinko Matosevic or Dustin Brown of Germany in the second round.
The Scot, 27, sailed through the first set in 34 minutes as he broke Golubev, ranked 53, three times and committed just five unforced errors.
Golubev, who came into the match with just one win at Roland Garros in four appearances, stiffened his resistence in the second before Murray got the crucial break to go 5-4 up and then held serve for the set.
The Dunblane native, who became Britain's first Wimbledon champion since 1936 in 2013, came back from 3-1 down in the third before losing his way as Golubev got back into the match taking the third set 6-3.
But in a match that saw 13 breaks of serve,
eight by Murray, the experience of the Briton paid off and he closed out
the match 6-3 in 2hr 35min.
Results on Tuesday at the French Open, the third day of the season's second Grand Slam tournament at Roland Garros (x denotes seeded player):
Men
First round
Jack Sock (USA) bt Nicolas Almagro (ESP x21) 5-0 - retired (foot)
Dusan Lajovic (SRB) bt Federico Del Bonis (ARG) 6-3, 6-2, 6-3
Jurgen Zopp (EST) bt Tommy Haas (GER x16) 2-5 - retired (shoulder)
Ivo Karlovic (CRO) bt Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x11) 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4)
Andreas Haider-Maurer (AUT) bt Daniel Brands (GER) 4-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4
Axel Michon (FRA) bt Bradley Klahn (USA) 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 5-7, 6-1, 6-4
Kevin Anderson (RSA x19) bt Stephane Robert (FRA) 7-5, 6-3, 6-4
Andreas Seppi (ITA x32) bt Santiago Giraldo (COL) 6-3, 7-5, 6-3
Juan Monaco (ARG) bt Lucas Pouille (FRA) 6-3, 6-1, 6-4
Simone Bolelli (ITA) bt Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA) 6-4, 6-4, 6-2
David Ferrer (ESP x5) bt Igor Sijsling (NED) 6-4, 6-3, 6-1
Richard Gasquet (FRA x12) bt Bernard Tomic (AUS) 6-2, 6-1, 7-5
Carlos Berlocq (ARG) bt Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4
Pablo Cuevas (URU) bt Matthew Ebden (AUS) 6-1, 6-2, 6-3
Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER x28) bt Pere Riba (ESP) 7-5, 6-4, 6-1
Denis Istomin (UZB) bt Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) 6-3, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3
Women
First round
Camila Giorgi (ITA) bt Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) 6-4, 6-3
Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x27) bt Sofia Shapatava (GEO) 6-3, 6-1
Elina Svitolina (UKR) bt Petra Martic (CRO) 5-0 - retired (wrist)
Ana Ivanovic (SRB x11) bt Caroline Garcia (FRA) 6-1, 6-3
Sloane Stephens (USA x15) bt Peng Shuai (CHN) 6-4, 7-6 (10/8)
Polona Hercog (SLO) bt Jana Cepelov (SVK) 6-2, 6-3
Mara Teresa Torr (ESP) bt Klara Zakopalova (CZE) 7-6 (7/4), 6-2
Magdalna Rybrikov (SVK) bt Urszula Radwanska (POL) 4-6, 6-4, 3-0 - retired
Heather Watson (GBR) bt Barbora Zhlavov Strcov (CZE) 6-3, 6-4
Simona Halep (ROM x4) bt Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) 6-0, 6-2
Jelena Jankovic (SRB x6) bt Sharon Fichman (CAN) 5-7, 6-1, 6-3
Teliana Pereira (BRA) bt Luksika Kumkhum (THA) 4-6, 6-1, 6-1
Sorana Cirstea (ROM x26) bt Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) 6-7 (3/7), 7-5, 6-2
Kirsten Flipkens (BEL x21) bt Danka Kovinic (MNE) 7-6 (8/6), 6-2
Julia Glushko (ISR) bt Donna Vekic (CRO) 7-5, 2-6, 6-4
Dinah Pfizenmaier (GER) bt Estrella Cabeza (ESP) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) bt Caroline Wozniacki (DEN x13) 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-2
Silvia Soler (ESP) bt Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) 6-2, 6-3
Kiki Bertens (NED) bt Alexandra Cadantu (ROM) 7-6 (7/5), 6-1
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS x24) bt Kimiko Date Krumm (JPN) 6-3, 0-6, 6-2
Alison Riske (USA) bt Mirjana Lucic (CRO) 7-6 (7/2), 6-3
Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) bt Li Na (CHN x2) 7-5, 3-6, 6-1
