World number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia eased past Russia's Roman Safiullin 6-1, 6-2 at the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday to set up his next match with Italy's Lorenzo Musetti, who ousted the 24-time Grand Slam winner in the third round last year.

Djokovic, who was a double champion in Monte Carlo in 2013 and 2015, surpassed formal rival and Swiss great Roger Federer as the oldest top ranked singles player in ATP rankings history, at 36 years and 321 days.

"I met (Rohan) Bopanna yesterday, who is the oldest doubles number one in history. He said we had a combined age of 80, but he does contribute to the 80 more than I do," Djokovic joked.

The Serb wrapped up his opening victory in a little over an hour in heavy conditions after the morning rain. He quickly led 4-0 in the first set before taking it in only 33 minutes, and went on to break his opponent five times to move one step closer to a record-extending 41st Masters title.

"My feeling was great. I think it's an accurate judgment from the people that it's been one of the best performances I had here in quite a few years," said Djokovic, who failed to make it past the quarterfinals in his seven previous appearances at Monte Carlo.

"Monte Carlo is the first big tournament of the clay court season. You know, I haven't been really able the last six, seven years to start off strong and start off well. I've always kind of struggled in this tournament.

"But again, it's just the beginning of the tournament. It's one match. I'm going to hope to work tomorrow to maintain that rhythm and focus, obviously try to perform as well as I did in the second match as well as I did today," he added.

Djokovic has not won any title this year, and is eyeing his first title of the season as he returns to form. He was eliminated by Italian youngster Jannik Sinner in the semifinal of the Australian Open, suffered a third-round exit at the BNP Paribas Open when he fell to Italian qualifying lucky loser Luca Nardi, and withdrew from the Miami Open later in March.