Gasquet, the 10th seed who was runner-up to Roger Federer in 2006, showed some nerves in beating his friend Llodra in their first encounter.
All the other seeds in action, bar No. 11 Radek Stepanek, were winners in straight sets, including No. 9 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, No. 12 Tommy Robredo of Spain, No. 14 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, and No. 15 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.
Stepanek, a semifinalist last year, was ousted by Spain's Feliciano Lopez 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
The second of Gasquet's seven aces gave him the first set but Llodra broke Gasquet to force a third set. Gasquet broke for 3-2 and again for the match.
"It wasn't a good match. It was the first round and it is a match with a friend - it is always difficult with a friend,'' Gasquet said. "I was playing well and leading 6-3, 3-2 with a break, and after that I lost a little bit of my confidence. He played better and won the second set after that, it was difficult for me to fight, it was difficult with the wind and everything.''
Wawrinka beat Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-4, 7-6 (4), Robredo accounted for Canadian wild card Frederic Niemeyer 7-6 (4), 6-1, Gonzalez dispatched Julien Benneteau of France 6-2, 6-1, and Youzhny beat Andreas Seppi of Italy 7-6 (1), 6-2.
In other first-round matches, Nicolas Kiefer of Germany, a semifinalist in 1999 and 2004, beat Mardy Fish of the United States 7-5, 7-6 (4), and American Robby Ginepri topped Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 for his first win in five visits.
Nicolas Mahut of France withstood 15 aces from Janko Tipsarevic to beat the Serb 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2, Jose Acasuso of Argentina defeated Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-7 (1), 6-3, 7-5, and Frank Dancevic pleased Canada fans by upsetting Mario Ancic of Croatia 6-3, 6-4.
There was a tense moment in the seventh game of the first set with Dancevic leading 4-2. Ancic ran heavily into the umpire's chair while trying to track down a drop shot. Ancic took the brunt of the collision on his right shoulder, but required no medical attention.
Dancevic's victory earned him a second-round match with defending champion and third seed Novak Djokovic on Tuesday.
"The guy is No. 3 in the world and I'm going to have to try and keep my focus throughout the whole match and not have any lapses,'' Dancevic said. "I've never played the guy before so it's exciting for me and we'll see what happens.''
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