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Qualifier Jason Kubler was the unlikely saviour for Australian tennis at the French Open, winning a late-night thriller after four of his compatriots had lost.

Australian tennis has found its saviour on an otherwise shocking start to the French Open.

Never-say-die qualifier Jason Kubler finally put a first-round victory on the board at 9.40pm at Roland Garros, more than 10-1/2 hours after play on a brutally hard opening day had begun.

The first four Aussies in action - Chris O'Connell, Alexei Popyrin, Astra Sharma and Thanasi Kokkinakis - had already bitten the red dust.

Then Kubler, the man perhaps least fancied to negotiate his first-round tie, stepped up with the floodlights shining on the ominously numbered Court 13, and saved the day.

The one-time wonder boy of Australian tennis, who had battled through three tough qualifying matches to get to the main draw, defeated streetwise American Denis Kudla 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-3) to become the first of the 11-strong Down Under contingent to make it through.

"No way!" declared the 29-year-old, on hearing that his compatriots had all lost.

"I don't know if I saved the day, I'm personally super-happy I got through.

"It's only the second time I've won a main draw match, which in itself is pretty exciting."

In the floodlit stadium, the fans hung around to grab his signature with Kubler just wanting to head to the locker room.

"It's still weird thinking someone wants your autograph - because, I'm like, it's just me you know, it's not I'm anyone super-famous!

"They all stayed there for the whole three sets and must have enjoyed what they saw and wanted something to remember. But I was just so bloody tired! I just wanted to sit down," he said.

The Sydney wildcard O'Connell had kicked off the singles challenge on a humid morning with high hopes, only to depart Court 8 wholly deflated by a 6-2 6-4 6-7 (7-5) 6-1 loss to Slovenian Aljaz Bedene.

Next to fall was last year's big thing Popyrin, whose 2022 struggles continued at the hands of Fabio Fognini, the erratic 34-year-old Italian swashbuckler who found the odd touch of his old magic as he gave the young Sydneysider a bit of a lesson 6-4 7-5 6-4.

Perth's Australian No.2 Sharma, the first woman in action, came agonisingly close to victory over Varvara Gracheva, serving for the match and just two points from victory when a startling pass at 30-15 from the Russian kick-started her revival to win 4-6 6-4 7-5.

Sharma was so shocked by Gracheva's winner that she actually applauded her in the heat of battle.

Kokkinakis got involved in a real slugfest with Spanish clay-court specialist Albert Ramos-Vinolas, and looked shattered to go down 6-4 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-5) in a see-saw four-setter.

The pain was obvious for the Adelaide man, who missed out on a second-round date with Spain's new teenage comet Carlos Alcaraz, who just got better and better as he pulverised Argentine Juan Ignacio Londero 6-4 6-2 6-0.

But former world No.1 junior Kubler, who had saved a match point in his second round qualifier against Radu Albot, simply wouldn't be denied as night fell, proving just too teak-tough in each of three tiebreaks that he dominated.

He had two match points denied by the American before he hammered a glorious winning backhand down the line after more than three-and-a-quarter hours, letting out a primal roar of delight.