Against the 49th-ranked Darcis, Djokovic broke at love in the final game of the first set, then rolled through the second. “I feel good. I’m satisfied with the way I played today. The first match is always tough,” Djokovic said in fluent Italian. “I feel at home in Italy. I like playing here.”

Two seeded players were upset in the second round. Coming off a final appearance at the Barcelona Open, fifth-seeded David Ferrer lost to Radek Stepanek 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. Spanish clay-court specialist Nicolas Almagro upset seventh-seeded David

Nalbandian 6-4, 7-5. Fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko beat Croatian wild card Mario Ancic 6-2, 6-2; No. 8 James Blake held off Andreas Seppi of Italy 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-1; and No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez — last year’s finalist — defeated Russian qualifier Evgeny Korolev 6-3, 6-2.

Djokovic led 18-11 in winners and also had 18 unforced errors, with Darcis committing 31.