Top seed Roger Federer, high-flying Spaniard Rafael Nadal and defending champion Gaston Gaudio posted easy first- round wins Monday at the French Open. The reigning U.S. Open and two-time Wimbledon champion Federer drilled Israeli Dudi Sela 6-1, 6-4, 6-0 on the red clay at Roland Garros. The world No. 1 Federer, who titled on the dirt at the Hamburg Masters just two weeks ago, has never advanced beyond the quarterfinals in Paris. Federer is a four-time Grand Slam champ who needs Roland Garros to complete a career Grand Slam. Up next for the mighty Federer, who's 10-1 on clay this year, will be Spaniard Nicolas Almagro. The fourth-seeded Nadal, making his French Open debut, dispatched Lars Burgsmuller of Germany 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1. Nadal has already captured five clay-court titles this season, including prestigious Masters Series shields in Monte-Carlo and Rome. His five titles this year mark the most by a teenager on the ATP circuit since Andre Agassi in 1988. The 18-year-old Nadal has won his last 18 matches, all on clay, and is a brilliant 32-2 on the surface overall this season. Nadal and Federer co-lead the ATP with 42 wins apiece this year and could meet in a blockbuster semifinal here next week. Nadal will meet Belgian Xavier Malisse in the second round. A fifth-seeded Gaudio grounded Frenchman Julien Benneteau 7-5, 6-0, 6-1 to post his eighth straight win at the world's most-prestigious clay-court event. Gaudio upset fellow Argentine Guillermo Coria in five sets in last year's French Open finale. His second-round opponent on Wednesday will be Russian Dmitry Tursunov. In other top-10 action on opening day of this fortnight. seventh-seeded Brit Tim Henman humbled Argentine Juan Pablo Brzezicki 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 and No. 10 Argentine David Nalbandian overcame Cyprus' Marcos Baghdatis 0-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Henman and Nalbandian were last year's semifinal losers at Roland Garros. Former French Open champ Carlos Moya moved on with a 5-7, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 victory over fellow Spaniard Alberto Martin. The former world No. 1 Moya, seeded 14th here, captured Roland Garros back in 1998. Sixteenth-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek moved on with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-1 victory over struggling Thai Paradorn Srichaphan. Other seeded winners on Day 1 were No. 18 Croat Mario Ancic, No. 20 Spaniard David Ferrer, No. 23 Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean, No. 25 Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, No. 26 Czech Jiri Novak, No. 30 Frenchman Richard Gasquet, No. 31 Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela and No. 33 Swede Robin Soderling, who was originally scheduled to meet Federer in his opener before Joachim Johansson pulled out, moving Soderling around to meet Fernando Verdasco. Soderling beat Verdasco in five sets. Monday's lone upset occurred when Serbian Janko Tipsarevic knocked out 17th- seeded Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty in five grueling sets, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 8-6. Tipsarevic prevailed in 4 hours, 20 minutes. Other Day-1 wins came for Almagro, Malisse, Tursunov, German Tomas Behrend, Spaniards Felix Mantilla, Oscar Hernandez and Fernando Vicente, Israeli Robin Vik, Czech Tomas Berdych, Romanian Victor Hanescu, Peruvian Luis Horna, Dutchman Peter Wessels, Italian Davide Sanguinetti and Frenchmen Florent Serra and Olivier Patience. The first round will conclude here on Tuesday with 32 more matches, including ones for former world No. 1 American stars Andy Roddick and Agassi, Australian Open champion Marat Safin, the 2004 French Open runner-up Coria and former Roland Garros winners Juan Carlos Ferrero and Gustavo Kuerten. The second-seeded 2004 Wimbledon runner-up Roddick will face Frenchman Jo- Wilfried Tsonga, while the sixth-seeded Agassi will tangle with Finn Jarkko Nieminen. The 35-year-old eight-time Grand Slam champion Agassi captured the French Open in 1999 to complete his career Slam. The third-seeded Safin, who beat Lleyton Hewitt in January's Aussie Open finale, will take on Dutchman Raemon Sluiter, while an eighth-seeded Coria will lock horns with Dane Kenneth Carlsen. The 32nd-seeded Ferrero, the 2003 Roland Garros winner and 2002 runner-up, will face Slovakian Karol Beck, while the three-time French Open titlist Kuerten, unseeded here, will play Spaniard David Sanchez. Kuerten upset Federer in the third round here a year ago.