Spaniard David Ferrer smoothly progressed into the second round of the French Open with a 6-3 6-4 6-3 over Belgian Steve Darcis on Wednesday.

The fifth-seeded Ferrer next meets Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, a 7-6 6-1 6-4 winner of Russian Evgeny Korolev.

Ferrer, who is in the same half of the draw as world number one Roger Federer, snuffed out Darcis’s resistance with his devastating forehand, dropping serve only once.