It was just the tonic the Australian challenge at the prestigious clay-court event in the Caja Magica required after a sequence of dispiriting losses had continued with Alexei Popyrin getting knocked out of the ATP Masters 1000 event earlier on Thursday.
Like Popyrin, Walton has found wins difficult to come by this year, with his ranking having fallen from a career-high 75 last October to No.117 and the 20-year-old Landaluce, who made the Miami quarters last month and has just broken into the top 100, looked to pose a real test.
Instead, even with a vociferous Arantxa Sanchez Court crowd getting behind the youngster, Queenslander Walton delivered an efficient and clinical 6-2 6-3 victory in just 80 fairly one-sided minutes against an opponent who may have been a touch fatigued after some of his recent impressive exploits.
Much more solid, making only 14 unforced errors to Landaluce's 23, Walton earned four breaks from his five opportunities, while repelling four of the five break chances his opponent carved out.
It set up a last-64 encounter for Walton with doughty Russian 13th seed Karen Khachanov, who received a first-round bye.
Any chance of an all-Australian third round between Walton and Popyrin, though, was scuppered when the Sydneysider's own disappointing season took another downward turn as he fell to 22-year-old American qualifier Martin Damm.
Ranked 70 places higher than world No.126 Damm, Popyrin had his chances when he eked out a set point in the opening-set tiebreak, but the 26-year-old went on to succumb 7-6 (9-7) 6-4, taking his record to 4-11 in 2026 while his ranking has plummeted from No.19 last August to outside the top-50.
It followed Wednesday's calamitous day for the Australian women, when all four main-draw competitors lost in the WTA 1000 event.
Alex de Minaur enters the fray on Friday and, like Walton, will be charged with subduing another of the exciting young Spanish brigade who've taken the spotlight in the absence of injured favourite Carlos Alcaraz, currently protecting a wrist problem.
'Demon' will face the 19-year-old hometown hero and Real Madrid fan Rafael Jodar, who made a striking debut on Thursday by beating Dutchman Jesper de Jong 2-6 7-5 6-4 in the Manolo Santana stadium, roared on by a cheering crowd that included his favourite player, superstar Jude Bellingham.
The lanky teenager Jodar, who's already been labelled "outstanding" by Alcaraz as he's shot from 687 to 42 in the rankings over the past 12 months, beamed: "It was for me a surprise he was there. I had no idea!"
12°C