Ernests Gulbis became the first high-profile casualty of the French Open when he bowed out to home favourite Julien Benneteau in the first round.

Gulbis, who beat Roger Federer en route to the Rome Masters semis earlier this month, was many critics' pre-tournament tip as a dark horse at Roland Garros.

But the Latvian 23rd seed was outplayed early on before a hamstring injury forced him to retire at 6-4 6-2 1-0.

Elsewhere, Swedish fifth seed Robin Soderling cruised into round two.

He produced a completely dominant display to dispatch wild card Laurent Recouderc and cruise through in a complete mismatch.

Soderling hit a string of winners - 46 in total - to which world number 179 Recouderc simply had no answer.

And the 25-year-old, last year's runner-up at Roland Garros, ultimately won through 6-0 6-2 6-3 in an hour and a half.

It's nice to come to a place where you did well last year Robin Soderling

"It's always nice to have a quick match in the early rounds. It was good to have a few rallies," said Soderling.

Referring to his run in the tournament last year, during which he beat four-time champion Rafael Nadal before losing out to Roger Federer in the final, he added: "That was all last year. I have to start over again.

"But of course it's always nice to come back to a place where you did well last year. It gives you good feelings."

Gulbis revealed he would undergo a scan on his leg, but refused to be too downbeat, saying: "I stretched my hamstring in my right leg and I heard two cracks. I will go for a scan and hope that nothing is broken.

"It's very disappointing. I prepared really well for the tournament. But I have another eight or nine years in front of me, maybe 20 Grand Slams.

"If I concentrate on just this one, I'd go nuts. It's happened and I will learn from it," added the 21-year-old.

Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela completed a 6-0 6-4 7-6 (7-4) victory over American wildcard Ryan Sweeting to set up a possible meeting with Andy Murray - if the Brit can overcome an in-form Richard Gasquet on Monday.

French eighth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came through a titanic battle with unfancied German Daniel Brands on Court Phillippe Chatrier.

Tsonga, though not expected to go deep in the tournament this year, was expected to cruise past his 22-year-old opponent, but instead was taken to five sets, eventually scraping through 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-7 (2-7) 7-5.

JONATHAN OVEREND'S BLOG Just a few moments after we were talking up Ernests Gulbis on the radio - the Latvian was out

He will meet France's Josselin Ouana or Poland's Lukasz Kubot for a place in the last 32.

Marin Cilic, seeded 10th, overcame a second-set wobble to beat Ricardo Mello 6-1 3-6 6-3 6-1.

The big-serving Croatian was far from his fluent best, but fired 31 winners and broke his Brazilian eight times on his way to the second round.

Cilic could now face home favourite Gael Monfils in the next round should the Frenchman overcome German Florian Mayer.

Elsewhere, Russian 11th seed Mikhail Youzhny was barely troubled as he saw off Poland's Michal Przysiezny 6-1 6-0 6-4, making just 11 unforced errors and breaking his opponent seven times.

Colombian Alejandro Falla wasted equal little time in beating Serbian Janko Tipsarevic 6-1 6-2 6-3, while Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker overcame Frenchman Olivier Patience 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-3.

Chilean two-time Olympic gold medallist Nicolas Massu fell at the first hurdle in a five-set epic against Italian Fabio Fognini, going down 6-1 3-6 2-6 6-3 6-3.

But there were no such problems for Spanish seeds Albert Montanes and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Montanes, seeded 29th, beat Italian Stefano Galvani 6-3 6-3 6-3, while 32nd seed Garcia-Lopez downed German Rainer Schuettler 7-5 6-4 6-2.

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