Too much power, too much poise - victory in straight sets for Zheng Qinwen (6-2, 6-1) over Alize Cornet, dampening the spirits of the home crowd as the veteran bids farewell to Roland-Garros.

Zheng doesn’t have heaps of clay-court experience, but the Australian Open finalist has the game to go deep over the next fortnight. It will be Ashlyn Krueger or Tamar Korpatsch next up for the seventh seed.

It appears that Alize Cornet’s 20th French Open singles entry is likely to be a brief adventure - Zheng Qinwen is within two games of victory on Philippe-Chatrier.

On a cold and drizzly May day at Roland Garros, Kazakh fourth seed Elena Rybakina has got off the court quickly this morning after beating Belgium’s Greet Minnen 6-2 6-3, overcoming a late fightback to ease through to the second round.

A reminder of the order of play on the show-courts today. Some matches are already underway or have been completed

Court Philippe-Chatier

Latest score: Qinwen Zheng 6-2, 2-1 Alize Cornet

Felipe Meligeni Alves vs Casper Ruud

Erika Andreeva vs Aryna Sabalenka

Not before 7:15pm

Novak Djokovic vs Pierre-Hugues Herbert

Court Suzanne-Lenglen

Result: Greet Minnen 2-6, 3-6 Elena Rybakina

Latest score: Tomas Martin Etcheverry 1-3 Arthur Cazaux

Magdalena Frech vs Daria Kasatkina

Dan Evans vs Holger Rune

Court Simonne-Mathieu

Rain delay: Alex De Minaur vs Alex Michelsen

Taylor Fritz vs Federico Coria

Madison Keys vs Renata Zarazua

Victoria Azarenka vs Nadia Podoroska

Last year’s beaten finalist Casper Ruud plays today, taking on Brazilian qualifier Felipe Meligeni Alves. The Norwegian seventh seed is fresh from his victory in Geneva where he played the semi-final and final on Saturday.

“I just find it calm, peaceful, and at a 250 it’s a smaller event, and I can focus on all the practice I want to do and also play matches at the same time,” Ruud said when he arrived in Paris.

World No 2 Aryna Sabalenka begins her quest to end Iga Swiatek’s domination at Roland Garros when she plays Russian Erika Andreeva. Sabalenka, Australian Open champion, reached the semi-finals last year, her best performance in Paris.

Fourth seed Elena Rybakina will aim to put her recent health issues behind her when she faces Belgian Greet Minnen. The Kazakh pulled out of Indian Wells and missed the Italian Open, and last year withdrew in Paris before the third round.

Djokovic’s No 1 ranking is now under serious threat by Jannik Sinner, who ended Djokovic’s title defence in Australia at the semi-final stage, and the 37-year-old will need a significant improvement in Paris to retain his place on the throne.

Herbert knows what it takes to win at Roland Garros, but his two French Open titles have come playing doubles, where he has a career Grand Slam. As a singles player, he has yet to make it past the third round of the French Open.

The pair have just one previous meeting, which came over a decade ago. At the Paris Masters in 2013, Herbert was Djokovic’s first opponent, with the Serb winning in straight sets before going on to win the title.

Djokovic will be the main attraction at Roland Garros today when he begins his French Open title defence against Pierre-Hugues Herbert, but after last year’s domination, this year brings less expectation.

The French wildcard entry should provide the 24-time grand slam champion with little more than a decent workout before facing tougher opposition, but after losing to lucky loser Luca Nardi at Indian Wells, Djokovic won’t take him lightly.

Along with the French Open, the Serb won the Australian and US Open last year, also reaching the Wimbledon final, and began 2023 with the Adelaide title, but this year Djokovic has failed to make a single final.

His performances on clay this season have seen Djokovic exit Monte Carlo and Geneva at the semi-final stage, while in Rome he lost in the third round, but Paris is what he’s been aiming for.

“I know exactly what I need to do in grand slam environment or grand slam competition, so to say,” Djokovic told reporters. “It’s a whole different type of tournament and feel for the tournament than any other, really, tournaments that we have in the calendar.”

“This is a classic case of form is temporary, class is permanent,” Henman said.

“With his experience, Djokovic doesn’t need to worry about what’s gone on in the last four or five months, he can just focus on his first-round match.

“This can click for him in the space of a couple of sets. He loves the challenge of dealing with adversity, when he’s the enemy with the crowd against him. That’s when his focus, his concentration, is even greater.

“I don’t buy into any of the stats coming into this tournament. He knows what it takes better than anyone to win Grand Slams and if he can get through the first couple of matches, he’s still one of the favourites.”

Novak Djokovic says he feels “embarrassed” at how low his expectations are at this year’s French Open.

The world number one, 24-time grand slam winner and defending champion has endured a turbulent build-up to Roland Garros.

He has yet to win a title all season, or even reach a final, and suffered recent defeats to Alejandro Tabilo – after being hit on the head by a spectator’s water bottle – and Tomas Machac.

Rafael Nadal said he did not know if he had played his last match at the French Open but revealed appearing at the Olympic Games at Roland Garros this summer is “motivation” to continue his career after defeat to Alexander Zverev.