The 29-year-old twice battled back from a break down in the second set before storming through the decider to set up a second-round encounter with Spain’s Leyre Romero Gormaz.
There was also success for Britons Toby Samuel and Jay Clarke on the Paris clay.
Samuel came through a 24-point tie-break in the first set before dispatching American seventh seed Martin Damm 7-6 (13-11) 6-2.
His reward is a meeting with Belgian veteran and former world number seven David Goffin, who is set to retire at the end of the season.
Clarke, meanwhile, will face French hope Thomas Faurel after beating 6-2 6-2 Australian 23rd seed Dane Sweeney 6-2 6-2.
There was disappointment for Britain’s world number 264 Charles Broom, who missed three match points in a 4-6 7-6 (11-9) 6-4 loss to France’s Ugo Blanchet, who is 104 places above him in the rankings.
Jack Pinnington Jones also fell 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 to Ukraine’s Vitaliy Sachko after a tight third set that included seven breaks of serve.
Elsewhere, former US Open champion and 2018 Roland Garros runner-up Sloane Stephens beat fellow American Carol Youngsuh Lee 6-3 6-2.
Players must win three matches to qualify for the French Open main draw, which begins on Sunday, 24 May.
Fellow Britons Emma Raducanu, Cameron Norrie, Katie Boulter, Francesca Jones and Jacob Fearnley all have direct entry into the main draw, but Jack Draper and Sonay Kartal are missing with injury.
