The Briton ensured he did not follow women's top seed Angelique Kerber out of the exit door as he beat the Russian 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 6-0.

A surprise loss for Murray would have seen both top seeds crash out of a Grand Slam in the first round 

Murray has struggled since the turn of the year and looked vulnerable when Kuznetsov broke his serve twice on his way to levelling the contest at one set all.

But the 30-year-old, runner-up to Novak Djokovic on the red clay in the French capital last year, battled through the tough period and won the next two sets.

He will go up against Slovakia's Martin Klizan, the world number 50, in round two.

"It was quite windy," Murray said. 

"I started to feel a little bit better as the match went on but I expected a tough match because he's played well during the clay-court season."

Third seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, winner of the 2015 French Open, is also through after he overcame Slovakia's Jozef Kovalík 6-2, 7-6, 6-3.

Elsewhere in the men's singles draw, Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco stunned German rising star Alexander Zverev, seeded ninth, with a shock four-set win.

Verdasco, who has never been beyond the fourth round at Roland Garros, produced a stirring display as he clinched a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 success.

There were no such worries for Japan's Kei Nishikori, however, as the eighth seed accounted for Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 triumph.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's chances of progression hang by a thread as the Frenchman is a game away from losing against Argentina's Renzo Olivo.

In a thilling match, Olivo took the first two sets 7-5, 6-4 before Tsonga rallied back to win the third on a tie break.

Both exchanged breaks in the fourth as the action continued well past 9pm before the Argentine broke again and had the chance to serve for the match at 5-3.

However, the home player found a touch of class to break back in remarkable fashion, with this moment being the final play of the day as the light had faded too much.

Britain had earlier suffered disappointment as their number one Johanna Konta, the women's seventh seed, was knocked out at the first-round stage following defeat to Hsieh Su-wei of Chinese Taipei.

Hsieh had to recover from dropping the opening set as she recorded a 1-6, 7-6, 6-4 victory to progress to the second round.

Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine, seeded fifth, joined the player from Chinese Taipei in the next round as she swept aside Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-3.