Paris, May 29: After three consecutive first round exits at Roland Garros, Grigor Dimitrov was finally able to make it past the opening rubber in 2017 as he overcame Stephane Robert.

The Bulgarian turned in a sublime start to his French Open campaign on Sunday (May 28), defeating Frenchman Stephane Robert 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 in just one hour and 49 minutes.

The 11th seed fired 35 winners, including eight aces, to dispatch Robert. He was a perfect six-for-six converting break points and turned aside eight of 10 faced.

A two-time winner on the ATP World Tour this year, in Brisbane and Sofia, Dimitrov is looking to return to top form in the French capital after suffering early clay-court exits at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Monte-Carlo and Rome.

"I'm so happy," Dimitrov said.

"It's good. It's always good to win that first match, especially at any Slam, but here for the past three years I haven't been able to win a match. So today was a good day for me to start a good campaign. I like my chances out here. I like the clay. So I just want to make sure that I'm doing the right things in order to win every round."

Robert, meanwhile, was contesting his eighth main draw at his home Grand Slam. "Maybe this year is the last one, but I will try to come back next year," said the 37-year-old Robert.

"It was beautiful. I never played on the centre court (Court Philippe Chatrier). It was the first time for me. It was pleasant, even into the third set. I was way behind, and I was still fighting, but obviously when the public supports you, it makes a big difference."

Dimitrov will face Tommy Robredo in the second round after the Spanish veteran claimed his 37th match win at the clay-court Grand Slam, rallying past Daniel Evans 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-1.

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