PARIS -- Swiss eighth seed Roger Federer came back to earth with a bump when he was dumped out of the first round of the French Open by Hicham Arazi 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Federer, on cloud nine a week ago when he demolished Marat Safin to win the Tennis Masters Series in Hamburg, never settled against the gifted Moroccan.

"Hicham played very well, the conditions did not help and I was still tired from Hamburg," he said.

Arazi, a finalist on Monte Carlo clay a year ago, next plays Argentine Mariano Puerta.

The rain, which halted play four times during the day, did not help either, as heavy courts tend to favour clay-court specialists at the expense of more attacking players like the Swiss.

"The conditions were not suited to my game and I had never experienced anything like that," said Federer, who is the highest men's seed to fall so far in the tournament.

"It was such a big moment in Hamburg. It was kind of tough mentally and I had a very tough draw here," he added.

In other matches, No. 5 Yevgeny Kafelnikov won the first two sets and then survived a strong comeback from qualifier Tomas Behrend for a 6-3 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (3), 6-1 victory in a match carried over from Monday.

Sixth-seeded Tim Henman beat Galo Blanco 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (6); No. 11 Juan Carlos Ferrero, a semifinalist the last two years, beat Jean-Rene Lisnard 6-1, 7-6 (3),6-3; No. 14 Jiri Novak defeated Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (5); No. 15 Guillermo Canas defeated. Karol Kucera 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2, 6-2; and No. 17 Carlos Moya rolled to a 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 win over Raymon Delgado.

No. 21 Juan Ignacio Chela was upset by Adrian Voinea 7-6 (9) 7-5 4-6 7-6 (7).

The inconsistent Arazi has had one his worst seasons in years but on a good day he can still be one of the most brilliant players on the circuit.

"I did not know what to expect from him. He pulled out of Hamburg, his race ranking is not very good, he's not been playing so well. I thought I had a chance but it wasn't so," Federer said.

Since he reached the quarterfinals in his first tournament of the season in Adelaide, Arazi has not gone beyond the second round anywhere.

But a change of coach and the motivation of playing Roland Garros has put him back on track.

"I was rather surprised by the score as I had not won a match since Monte Carlo," Arazi said.

"Now I had plenty of time to prepare after pulling out in the first round in Hamburg. I walked on court with a fair amount of confidence in my preparation."

Arazi, who reached the quarter-finals in Paris in 1997 and 1998, parted from coach Thierry Champion after Hamburg and is now coached by another Frenchman, Thierry Guardiola.

"Guardiola brought me a lot mentally. I had lost motivation to play tennis, my mind was elsewhere," Arazi said.

The Moroccan said he had expected Federer to feel mentally exhausted after his Hamburg performance.

"In Hamburg he played such an unbelievable match against Safin that I was kind of expecting him not to reproduce the kind of tennis he had played in the final," Arazi said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.