It wasn't easy, easy and easy peasy, but despite a couple of strong efforts from their opponents, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal sealed their place in the second round of the French Open 2017 on Monday.
Playing against tricky customers in their opening rounds, both Djokovic and Nadal, drawn to play each other in the semifinals, were made to work by Marcel Granollers and Benoit Paire respectively, but in the end that class shone through.
Djokovic, with new coach Andre Agassi watching on from the player's box, was the first of the two superstars to take to court on Monday, with the first match at the Philippe-Chatrier ending quickly and giving the Serbian an opportunity to make an early statement at Roland Garros.
While Djokovic, seeded second, went on to see off Granollers in straight sets, the 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 scoreline didn't say the whole story, with Granollers making it quite difficult for Djokovic, particularly in the second set.
The second set was also the problem for Nadal, who raced to the lead by taking the opening set 6-1, before running into an inspired Paire for a while in the second.
Having been blown away in the first, Paire decided to come out all guns blazing in the second, ripping those backhands of his, playing some intelligent drop shots and coming into the net, and that plan worked.
Paire jumped into a 3-1 lead, with the Frenchman's pressure on the Nadal serve giving him a chance to take this match to, at least four sets.
With the crowd slowly getting on his side, it looked like we might actually have a proper contest here in the first round at the Suzanne-Lenglen, but you knew Nadal, looking for a record tenth French Open title, was going to break back immediately, didn't you.
And so he did, with the second set getting right back on serve.
Paire, though, was playing some good tennis now, ripping those two-handed backhands and putting the pressure on Nadal to make the shots by coming into the net, and that aggression paid off as Paire got a couple of break points in the eighth game.
However, he couldn't convert, and after Nadal held his nerve, he went on to break Paire to love in the next game to give him the impetus he needed to wrap up the second set.
With the air taken out and an injury bothering him, Paire just couldn't stay with Nadal in the third set, with the No.4 seed breaking the world number 45 in the very first game, before easing to victory.
Results:
Novak Djokovic beat Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in two hours and 27 minutes.
Rafael Nadal beat Benoit Paire 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 in one hour and 52 minutes.
