Twelfth-seeded Tommy Robredo, a winner two weeks ago on clay, picked up his hard-court game on Monday and beat nemesis Mardy Fish 6-2, 6-2 in the opening match of the Cincinnati Masters.
Robredo is 3-3 against Fish, including a loss in their previous meeting at the Australian Open in January.
"He destroyed me in three sets," Robredo said. "So I had to be very focused from the beginning, and I think I did it."
The US$2.6 million masters series is being played at the Lindner Family Tennis Center north of Cincinnati. Defending champion Roger Federer, Wimbledon and French Open champion Rafael Nadal and the rest of the top eight seeded players all had first-round byes.
No. 16 seed Ivo Karlovic beat Thomaz Bellucci 6-3, 6-4, but the other two seeded players in action on Monday were eliminated.
Tommy Haas beat No. 14 Mikhail Youzhny 7-6 (2), 2-6, 6-4, and Tomas Berdych knocked off No. 13 Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Federer is scheduled to play Tuesday against Robby Ginepri, who advanced by beating Jonas Bjorkman 6-0, 7-6 (5).
"We played here a couple years ago and I actually took a set off him, so I know I can fare up pretty well against him," Ginepri said of Federer. "It's going to be a difficult match, obviously. I'll have to serve extremely well and be patient out there and try to attack his backhand when I can."
In an all-Russian evening match, Dmitry Tursunov beat Marat Safin 7-6 (5), 6-4. Safin disputed numerous calls, had several long talks with the umpire and threw his racket in disgust near the base of the umpire's chair after going down 4-5 in the final set, a service break that also seemed to break his spirit.
In other matches, Ernests Gulbis beat Jarkko Nieminen 7-6 (7), 6-2; Robin Soderling defeated Julien Benneteau of France 6-0, 6-3; Andreas Seppi eliminated Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 7-5; Philipp Kohlschreiber ousted Michael Yani 6-3, 6-4; and Sam Querrey beat Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.