With question marks over his form and fitness, Djokovic chose the perfect time to deliver a blistering display to dismantle flinty Spanish clay-courter Roberto Carballes Baena 6-4 6-1 6-2 on Court Philippe Chatrier on Thursday.
He seemed to flick into top gear following an incident in the first set when he was distracted by a noise from the crowd during a lost point, which prompted him to complain to the umpire and look dagger-eyed at the culprit.
In typical Roland Garros fashion, that only prompted a chorus of jeers from the crowd who had enjoyed baiting the champ in his first-round win over French wildcard Pierre Hugues-Herbert.
Djokovic just smiled, ended up playing a striking game to break for the first set and, from there, was quite masterful as he outplayed the world No.63 and looked to be rediscovering his mojo just at the right time with a record-breaking 25th grand slam title in sight.
After ending a 24-shot rally with a smash to wrap up the first set, Djokovic lost just three games more as he looked nothing like the man who's been floundering on the clay of late by his immense standards and who hasn't won a title all season.
Miomir Kecmanovic (R) got sympathy from Daniil Medvedev after his French Open withdrawal.
Astonishingly, this was the 19th consecutive time the Serb has qualified for the third round at Roland Garros.
Earlier, Daniil Medvedev also enjoyed a straightforward passage past a potentially dangerous opponent after Miomir Kecmanovic had to retire with injury.Â
The rising Serbian world No.57 Kecmanovic, who reached the last 16 at the Australian Open this year, called on the trainer when clearly struggling and in discomfort at 6-1 5-0 down under the new Court Suzanne Lenglen roof on another dismal, grey morning in Paris.
Russian fifth seed Medvedev, still seeking to get past the quarter-finals at Roland Garros in what is his worst slam, will next face either Argentina's Mariano Navone or Czech Tomas Machac in the third round.
Kecmanovic shook his head after losing his serve for the third time in the second set, signalling to the umpire that he couldn't continue after just 55 minutes.
But the 24-year-old Serb's misfortune made it a light day's work for former US Open winner Medvedev, who made only six unforced errors at a venue where in seven previous editions he'd been knocked out five times in the first round.
Once again rain interrupted action on the outside courts, but it didn't stop Bulgarian 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov continuing his recent fine form by crushing Hungarian Fabian Marozsan 6-0 6-3 6-4 to also ease into the last 32.
German fourth seed Alexander Zverev, a semi-finalist in the last three years, beat David Goffin 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 6-2 but at least the Belgian didn't have to put up with being spat at by the crowd as he had in his first-round match.
