By Andy Murray's standards it was a straightforward first outing at the French Open, but the world number four conceded yesterday's 6-4 6-1 6-3 victory over qualifier Eric Prodon had been a frustrating experience.

The Scot has played five-setters first up on three of his four previous visits to Roland Garros, including 12 months ago, when he came from two sets down to beat Richard Gasquet.

Prodon, ranked 124th in the world, is not in Gasquet's class and in truth he did not really threaten even to take a set off Murray but the 29-year-old's unpredictability left his opponent dissatisfied.

He said: ‘‘It was a tough match. There was no rhythm really to the match. He didn't want to have any long rallies so he was hitting a lot of drop shots and going for his shots. He'd change the rhythm or change the pace of the ball.

‘‘I was annoyed with the way I was moving. I was hitting the ball well from the back of the court, especially towards the end of the match, and I served well, but I didn't move particularly well.''

Prodon has played nearly all his tennis on clay at Futures and Challenger level, where he has enjoyed so much success that he is known as the Roger Federer of the Futures.

Murray's only previous sighting of the Frenchman came at a tournament in Edinburgh in 2004, and he relied on best friend Dani Vallverdu for information about Prodon.

The fourth seed, who confirmed he will definitely play in Great Britain's Davis Cup tie against Luxembourg in July, said: "Dani knows a lot of the South American players who had seen him from Challengers and got some pretty good tactics.

"I was told going in he's very unpredictable. That's why it was a difficult match and just a quite frustrating one to play, because even though I was in front, all of the points were just really scrappy until the end when I went behind."