Eighth-seeded Benoit Paire took just 45 minutes to beat Adrian Menendez-Maceiras of Spain 6-0 6-2 in the Open Sud de France first round on Tuesday.
The Frenchman used his powerful forehand to often force Menendez-Maceiras to the back of the court and broke the Spaniard’s serve five times.
Paire amused himself in the last game with a half-volley played through his legs, which he followed up with a caressed drop shot.
He sealed victory on his third match point when Menendez-Maceiras swatted a forehand wide.
“It was short and fun. I’m very motivated here. I made a good start to the year, but didn’t have much luck at the Australian Open because I came up against Roger (Federer) in the first round,” Paire said.
Paire next plays Steve Darcis of Belgium, who beat Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 6-4 7-6.
In other matches, ninth-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu of France lost 6-4 6-4 to Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine, who next plays Japan’s Tatsuma Ito or Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
Former champion Gael Monfils beat Ruben Bemelmans of Belgium 7-5 6-4 to set up a second-round contest against third-seeded countryman Richard Gasquet.
There were also first-round wins on Tuesday for Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, Czech Jan Hajek and Victor Hanescu of Romania.