The Swedish fifth seed, who famously handed Rafael Nadal a first career defeat here last year before finishing as runner-up, crushed Dent 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 and will next face 29th seed Albert Montanes from Spain.

“I didn’t expect to win so easily in the second round of a Grand Slam. I can’t remember playing such a short match,” said the 25-year-old Swede, who lost just five games in his opening round. “But you have to keep your focus because a match can change very quickly.”

Soderling’s quickfire victory equalled the 71 minutes it took Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber to beat Australia’s Bernard Tomic 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 last year. The shortest match remains the 1970 final when Jan Kodes defeated Zeljko Franulovic in 68 minutes.

The 29-year-old Dent was humiliated on Court Suzanne Lenglen, never recovering from winning just seven points in the first set, which also saw his service broken three times.

After winning a paltry two games in all, the American, playing in Paris for the first time since 2004, was finally put out of his misery after an hour and 11 minutes.

That was 25 minutes less than it took women’s world number two Venus Williams to make the last 32 with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Spain’s Arantxa Parra Santonja.