Britain's Andy Murray scored his best win for several weeks when he beat Gael Monfils of France in a battle between two 19-year-olds tipped as Grand Slam winners of the future.
Murray's 6-4, 6-1 win over the world number 26 ended a worrying run of only two wins in six tournaments in which he had been dogged by problems with his back, an ankle, a virus, and an erosion of confidence. But in conditions akin to the East coast of his native Scotland in March, he played a canny, well-paced match in which he manoeuvred the harder-hitting Monfils into self-destruction.
It was Murray's best result since beating Lleyton Hewitt to win his first ATP Tour title in San Jose nearly three months ago.
"I'm really pleased with the way I played because I had been mentally struggling," Murray admitted.
"I thought carefully about what I was going to do and listened to my i-pod and I was more fired up than in the last few weeks.
"People say I should be more aggressive, but I have played against an opponent who was in a semi-final last week and I have won. There is not much I can do better."
Murray did not start as though he was likely to win so comprehensively. He lost the first five points and appeared as though he might still be out of sorts.
But as the wind continued to gust, the clouds to threaten, and the clay court to churn up, Murray devised a way of coping which was very productive.
He was rarely too ambitious, but usually remained tactically positive, mixing in slow loopy drives which wobbled in the breeze, with lower, flatter ones - particularly against the wind, when they would stay low.
This earned him a break of serve in the third game when Monfils suffered a piece of bad luck, his drive taking a net cord and leaping wide.
But such misfortune was commonplace amidst such treacherous elements, and later Monfils had to suffer other indignities, including a smash which changed course so that Murray could smite it back past him, and one Murray serve which hit a divot of clay and leapt over his head. Breaks of serve were as commonplace as holds in the first set, though the psychological effect of Murray breaking Monfils twice in a row to reach 5-2 appeared significant.
The Frenchman did break back once, but once the first set had gone, his resistance was far less uncompromising. Monfils continued to hit the heavier strokes and a few of the more spectacular winners, but these were not the conditions for producing them consistently, and as the second set ran away from him his morale plummeted. At 0-2 he attempted a stop volley only to see Murray accelerate to sweep it past him, and Monfils' head suddenly dropped. His standard fell after that as well.
The last straw was when a despairing mis-hit return of serve by Murray ballooned over the net by the narrowest of margins, only to swirl too treacherously for Monfils to put it away, creating an opportunity for Murray to make a lob winner.
The end then came quickly, and Monfils struggled to overcome his disappointment.
Murray, currently 46 in the world but likely to rise again, now has an attractive second-round meeting with James Blake, the fifth-seeded American.
FIRST ROUND: Max Mirnyi (BLR) bt Luis Horna (PER) 7-6 (7/5), 7-5; Dominik Hrbaty (SVK) bt Florian Mayer (GER) 6-4, 6-2; Andy Murray (GBR) bt Gael Monfils (FRA) 6-4, 6-1; Nicolas Kiefer (GER x9) bt Jurgen Melzer (AUT) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3; Fernando Gonzalez (CHI x7) bt Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) 6-4, 6-3; Nikolay Davydenko (RUS x4) bt Nicolas Massu (CHI) 6-2, 6-4; Andreas Seppi (ITA) bt Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) 2-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-1; Juan Monaco (ARG) bt Xavier Malisse (BEL) 6-3, 2-0 retired.