Djokovic’s progression never looked in doubt as he demonstrated his ruthlessness once again, securing his passage into the next round by beating Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller 6-1, 6-4, 6-4.

Meanwhile Nadal, seeded sixth after a tumultuous year which has been plagued by injuries and inconsistencies, made light work of compatriot Nicolas Almagro.

Nadal had lost only one of their past 13 methods and he never looked likely of worsening that record as he cruised to a dominant 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 win on Court Philippe Chatrier.

The two tennis heavyweights now remain on course for a titanic meeting in the quarter-finals, which would give Djokovic the chance to exact some revenge on the Spaniard after defeat in last year’s final.

Briton Andy Murray, widely-tipped to be one of the main challengers for this year’s title following an excellent recent run of form on clay, is also through to the next round as he beat Joao Sousa of Portugal in four sets.

The third seed looked in good touch once again on a surface which has caused him problems in the past and he was able to recover from dropping the second set to win 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.

The women’s draw continued to throw up surprises as Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark was the latest seed to be dumped out of the competition after she lost in straight sets to Germany’s Julia Görges, currently ranked at number 72 in the world.

Wozniacki couldn’t find her rhythm throughout the contest, eventually succumbing to a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) defeat which saw her join the mass exodus of women’s seeds to crash out of the French Open prematurely.

She follows the likes of sixth seed Eugenie Bouchard of Canada, and last year’s runner-up and third seed Simona Halep of Romania out of the exit door, which could pave the way for yet another Serena Williams victory.

The American herself looked as though she could fall victim to the curse in her match with Germany's Anna-Lena Friedsam after she surprisingly lost the first set 7-5.

The 19-time Grand Slam champion recovered from that blip as she managed to turn the contest on its head and emerge from a tough encounter with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 victory.

Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, seeded fourth, also came from behind to seal her progression as she dropped the first set before claiming a 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-2 win against Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain.

Elsewhere, Italy’s Francesca Schiavone, who won the 2010 tournament, earned a marathon triumph over 2009 victor Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in a match that lasted three hours 49 minutes.

The Italian squeezed through to round three by edging her Russian counterpart 6-7 (11-13) 7-5 10-8.

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