Mikhail Youzhny eased into the second round of the Kremlin Cup with a straight-sets win over Argentina's Horacio Zeballos.
The Russian third seed had the support of the Moscow crowd as he posted a 6-1 7-6 (7/5) victory against the world number 54.
Fifth seed Pablo Cuevas was also a convincing first-round winner, the Uruguayan beating Yen-Hsun Lu 6-4 6-2.
Italy's Potito Starace overcame local favourite Evgeny Donskoy 6-3 6-3, while Teimuraz Gabashvili fought ! back from a set down to end Karol Beck's challenge 3-6 6-4 6-4.
In the women's event, fifth seed Nadia Petrova ensured there was further Russian success with a 6-2 6-0 victory over compatriot Yana Buchina.
Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova, the seventh seed, was less fortunate however, slipping to a 6-2 6-2 loss at the hands of Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.
Alona Bondarenko, Lucie Safarova and Olga Govortsova also came through their first-round matches.
