Mohamed Safwat is the first man from Egypt to play in a Grand Slam tennis tournament's main draw in 22 years — and he got very little notice that chance would come at the French Open.

Safwat got into the field as a "lucky loser," someone who failed to make it out of the qualifying rounds but is given a berth when another player withdraws. In this case, Victor Troicki pulled out Sunday because of an injured lower back.

So, the 182nd-ranked Safwat made his Grand Slam debut on Court Philippe Chatrier against No. 4-seeded Grigor Dimitrov. Not surprisingly, Dimitrov won 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 (1).

Dimitrov said he only found out he'd be playing Safwat about 20 minutes beforehand.

Safwat was cheered off the court in a rousing ovation. The last Egyptian man to play at a major tournament was Tamer El Sawy at the 1996 U.S. Open.

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Kei Nishikori has made light work of his first Grand Slam match since Wimbledon last year, advancing to the second round of the French Open with a 7-6 (7), 6-4, 6-3 win against wild card Maxime Janvier of France.

Nishikori, a 28-year-old from Japan, is seeded 19th at Roland Garros. After appearing in 21 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, he missed two in a row — last year's U.S. Open, then the Australian Open this January — because his right wrist was not fully recovered enough from a torn tendon.

The 2-hour, 19-minute match was Janvier's first at tour. He has never been ranked better than 228th. Nishikori has been ranked as high as No. 4.