The British number one provided further evidence of his improvement on clay by routing the Argentinian 6-2 6-2 6-1 on Suzanne Lenglen court.

Murray, the third seed, hit 55 winners in overrunning Chela – a supposed specialist on the surface – and he was delighted with how his opener at Roland Garros went.

“It was a very good win,” Murray said.

“I knew I needed to play well and I didn’t make too many mistakes.

“I was not expecting to play that well in the first match.

“I dictated most of the points when the rallies went long, which he normally likes.

“If I play that well in matches, I’ve got a good chance of winning comfortably. I wasn’t expecting to play that well and it was a bit surprising.”

Chela was a quarter-finalist at Roland Garros in 2004 and was once 15th in the world, but he is now not even in the top 200 because of a recent eight-month spell out through injury.

He could not live with Murray, who was broken in the very first game but bounced back to win four in succession, claiming the first set in 38 minutes.

The Scot was by then clearly beginning to enjoy himself as his opponent wilted in the fading Paris sun, a nonchalant drop shot and a steepling lob helping him to a break and a 2-0 lead at the start of the second set.

Serving at 5-1, Murray put in a sloppy game and was broken but he put that right in the very next game, breaking back to take the set. A second-round match against Germany’s Mischa Zverev or Potito Starace, of Italy, may provide a better gauge of Murray’s prospects.

“I understood what I had to do,” added Murray, who last year made it to the third round before losing to Nicolas Almagro.