Djokovic, the 2016 champion, needed just 83 minutes to complete a 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 demolition of Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis at Roland Garros.
The top seed went level with Roger Federer for victories at the tournament, although still 25 behind Rafael Nadal’s all-time best.
He will now face Colombian lucky loser Daniel Elahi Galan, ranked 153, for a place in the last 16.
“It was difficult for Ricardas in the third set as he had an injury and couldn’t move very well,” said Djokovic whose afternoon stroll was eased by his opponent needing treatment on a back problem after the second set.
Djokovic is bidding to become the first man in half a century to win all four majors twice, also only dropped five games in his first round match against Mikael Ymer who likened facing the Serb to a ‘snake killing its prey’.
Victory stretched his 2020 record to 33-1, his only defeat coming via disqualification from the US Open.
Former champion Ostapenko swept second seed Pliskova out of the tournament, triumphing 6-4, 6-2 on the back of 27 winners.
In a women’s draw reeling from the injury-enforced withdrawal of Serena Williams, and the absence of world number one and defending champion Ashleigh Barty, as well as US Open winner Naomi Osaka, world number 43 Ostapenko pressed her case for a second Paris title after her shock 2017 breakthrough.
She will now face Spain’s Paula Badosa who put out Sloane Stephens, the 2017 US Open winner and 2018 runner-up in Paris, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
Pliskova, 28, made the semi-finals in 2017 but has now failed to get beyond the third round in her eight other appearances at the French Open.
“I tried to be aggressive but not miss too much as she’s such a great player,” said 23-year-old Ostapenko who had lost in the first round in her last two visits.
Ninth seed Denis Shapovalov committed 106 unforced errors as he crashed out following a 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 3-6, 8-6 loss to Roberto Carballes Baena.
Spanish world No.101 Carballes Baena prevailed after a five-hour battle on Court Suzanne Lenglen to set up a clash with 18th seed Grigor Dimitrov.
Shapovalov, who reached the quarter-finals of the US Open, twice served for the match in the final set at 5-4 and 6-5 but was broken three times in succession.
“It’s a dream for me to win a match like this on this court,” said Carballes Baena, 27, after advancing to the third round of a major for the first time.
Dimitrov downed Slovakia’s Andrej Martin 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 to reach the third round for a fourth successive year.
Also moving on was two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova, whose best Roland Garros run was the semi-finals in 2012.
The seventh seed defeated Italy’s 94th-ranked Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-3 to register her 25th French Open win.
Kvitova next faces 18-year-old Leylah Fernandez of Canada, last year’s junior champion, who reached the last 32 of a Slam for the first time by seeing off Polona Hercog 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
Australian Open champion and fourth seed Sofia Kenin needed three sets to see off Ana Bogdan of Romania, winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 while eighth-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus took down Russia’s Darya Kasatkina 7-6 (8-6), 6-0.
Kasatkina has now gone two years without beating a top 10 player.
Later, Greek fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who made the last 16 in Paris last year but had to come back from two sets down in the first round against Jaume Munar, faces wily Uruguayan veteran Pablo Cuevas.
The 34-year-old world No.60 has made the third round on four occasions and all six of his career titles have come on clay.
Andrey Rublev, the mop-topped Russian who defeated Tsitsipas in the Hamburg final at the weekend and now has three titles in 2020, also needed to come back from two sets down in his opener against Sam Querrey.
The 22-year-old will face Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the 21-year-old world number 70, who enjoyed a run to the last 16 at the US Open.
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