The former Wimbledon and Australian Open champions reached the Quarter-finals at Roland Garros last year, equalling Heliovaara's best display with his former partner, and their bid to go further this time was not expected to be troubled by a pair who relied on protected ranking to qualify.
After the first seven games went with serve, Heliovaara and Patten stepped things up in game eight, attacking Borges' serve to take the game and go 5-3 up, before two aces from the Brit helped the pair easily hold serve in the next game and win the set, 6-3.
Borges and Zhang managed to dig in and hold a nine-minute game three of the second set, but with the Chinese serving in game five, the Finn and Brit finally broke through - a forehand winner from Patten ended another nine-minute contest.
The following three games went with serve, leaving Zhang serving to stay in the match. He and Borges were both guilty of a forehand forced error before an unforced mistake from Borges handed the win to the number two seeds; 6-3, 6-3.
In the Second Round, the duo will face Hungary's Fabian Marozsan and Italian Mattia Belucci.