Gael Monfils gave the visitors a flying start by defeating Janko Tipsarevic in straight sets, but Novak Djokovic responded in similar fashion against Gilles Simon to level the tie going into Saturday's doubles.
Djokovic was always on top against a player who has slipped to 42nd in the world rankings following a season devastated by a recurring knee problem.
And Simon's lack of court time appeared to show against a player at the top of his game, the world number three utterly dominant particularly on his own serve.
Djokovic eventually made hard work of closing out the match, dropping his serve for the first time at 5-4, before immediately breaking back and holding to record a 6-3 6-1 7-5 success.
The popular Serb broke Simon after a marathon seventh game and broke again to love to clinch the first set before cruising through the next.
Another break to go 3-1 ahead appeared to clinch it for Djokovic, but he squandered two match points at 5-4 before the Frenchman clawed his way back to level.
However, Djokovic quickly went back on the offensive and forged ahead onece again, finally closing it out in two hours and 18 minutes.
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