The top-ranked Federer beat Sam Querrey of the United States 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 Monday in the first round at Roland Garros, where the 12-time major champion is trying to become only the sixth man to complete a career Grand Slam.
Federer was broken once early in the first set, but he managed to win five times on Querrey's serve.
"Once I got settled I played a little bit more better," Federer said. "I was able to create myself a few opportunities against his serve, which was sort of good. … Give me a few days now again to practice, and hopefully I can play a bit better the next match."
Federer has played well on clay this season, despite having already lost seven times this year -- more than he lost in the entire season in 2004, '05 and '06.
He won his only title of the year on clay in Estoril, Portugal, when Nikolay Davydenko retired from the final with a leg injury. Federer then reached the final at the Monte Carlo Masters and the Hamburg Masters, losing both times to Rafael Nadal.
"I've played well all clay-court season long," Federer said. "Didn't have many hiccups really, and I have plenty of matches. That was my goal as well. By playing Estoril, I was hoping to get that before Paris."
Nadal, who is undefeated at Roland Garros, has also beaten Federer in the last two French Open finals and in the 2005 semifinals. He was to start his quest for a fourth straight French Open title against Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil, but rain delayed play.
Querrey was making his second appearance at the French Open. He also lost in the first round last year.
"He's an up-and-coming player who's got a good serve and big shots," Federer said.
In other action in the men's draw Monday, former French Open finalist Guillermo Coria's return to the Grand Slam stage after a break of almost two years ended in defeat when he was beaten 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 by 12th seed Tommy Robredo.
The Argentine, who was playing his first major since the 2006 U.S. Open after being plagued by shoulder and back problems, showed glimpses of his dogged resilience but his patched-up body eventually let him down. Coria also missed seven months between 2001 and '02 to serve a ban for doping,
Despite entering the event on a protected ranking of 604, Coria wasted little time in frustrating Robredo by producing a series of sizzling groundstrokes and angled winners.
However, he could not keep up the pace and after visibly slowing down during the fourth set, he surrendered with a double fault.
Spaniard Robredo will next face either Serbia's Viktor Troicki or Marc Gicquel of France.
Richard Gasquet withdrew from the French Open because of a left knee injury. The eighth-seeded Frenchman pulled out shortly before he was scheduled to play Florent Serra. Santiago Giraldo of Colombia replaced Gasquet in the draw, and lost to Serra 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
Florian Mayer of Germany also withdrew. Mayer, who will be replaced by Evgeny Korolev of Russia, pulled out because of gastroenteritis. Korolev will now face Fabrice Santoro in the first round.
No. 17 Marcos Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open runner-up, lost to Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.
"That's the way it is. That's tennis," said Baghdatis, who was returning to the game after more than a month off for personal reasons. "He played better than I did today."
No. 29 Guillermo Canas also lost, falling to Wayne Odesnik of the United States 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3), 7-6 (8), while No. 11 Tomas Berdych, No. 22 Fernando Verdasco and No. 24 Fernando Gonzalez advanced.
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