Marinko Matosevic became the third Australian man knocked out of the French Open on Sunday, losing in straight sets to fourth seed David Ferrer.

Matosevic put up a decent fight against the Spanish world No.5 but went down 6-4 6-3 6-4 to join Lleyton Hewitt and James Duckworth as first-round casualties.

Matosevic, ranked 63rd, extended his duck to nine losses from nine grand slam matches.

After Ferrer edged a tight first set, the Australian broke twice to take a 3-0 lead in the second set.

However Ferrer took control from there, winning the next eight games.

Matosevic rallied to break back early in the third set but Ferrer set up a second-round match against either countryman Albert Montanes or American Steve Johnson.