Monday's play at the Monte Carlo Masters saw Daniil Medvedev pull level with Roger Federer for wins this season as top seeds Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal learned the identity of their second-round opponents.
Djokovic, champion at this event in 2013 and 2015, will take on Philipp Kohlschreiber after the German cruised past Taro Daniel 6-1, 6-3.
Nadal, meanwhile, is an 11-time winner in Monte Carlo – including in each of the past three years – and the second seed faces a showdown with compatriot Roberto Bautista Agut, who came from behind to oust John Millman 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.
David Goffin, Marco Cecchinato and Diego Schwartzman were Monday's other notable winners as the ATP's biggest names enjoyed opening-round byes.
MEDVEDEV MATCHES FEDERER
A 6-1, 6-1 thrashing of Joao Sousa saw Medvedev chalk up his 18th win on the ATP Tour this season, the joint-most alongside Federer.
The Russian broke five times en route to a dominant victory and can now look forward to meeting Radu Albot in round two.
"It was a good match. Of course, it is not easy to start the first match on clay," said Medvedev. "You want to see how your practices have been going [and if] they worked out. In this moment I am happy with my performance but looking forward to the next matches because it is only the start."
FOGNINI FIGHTS BACK
Things were looking bleak for Fabio Fognini against Andrey Rublev as the 13th seed found himself a set and 4-1 down in the second and staring early elimination in the face. And the world number 18 had to summon all his battling qualities in game six, saving five break points as Rublev failed to claim a 5-1 advantage that would surely have put the contest to bed.
Buoyed by that escape, Fognini embarked on a run of winning six games out of seven to force a decider, where a solitary break in game three set up a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 victory and a place in the second round.
STRUFF STRUTS HIS STUFF AGAINST BIRTHDAY BOY SHAPOVALOV
Another man to come from behind and reach the last 32 was Jan-Lennard Struff, who dumped out world number 20 Denis Shapovalov 5-7, 6-3, 6-1.
Struff broke his opponent twice at the end of the second to stay alive in the tournament and dominated the final set, dropping just one game as Shapovalov failed to mark his 20th birthday with a win.
His reward is a second-round meeting with Grigor Dimitrov, who defeated Matteo Berrettini on Sunday.
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