There were wins for Germany’s Tobias Kamke and Florian Mayer, and Albert Montanes and Roberto Bautista Agut at the German Open Tennis Championships in Hamburg on Monday.
Paul-Henri Mathieu made the final of the German Open Tennis Championships in 2009.
But the Frenchman will not be repeating that run this year after he suffered a straight sets defeat to Albert Montanes of Spain in the first round.
Benoit Paire awaits Montanes in round two.
On paper, Germany’s Tobias Kamke faced an uphill task against his first round opponent, Lukas Rosol.
Rosol is ranked 38 places ahead of Kamke.
But the home favourite took the first set and demolished Rosol in the second to seal 6-3 6-0 win after an hour of play.
Kamke faces Nicolas Almagro in the second round.
Roberto Bautista Agut set up a second round encounter with fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco following a straight sets victory over German wild card Alexander Zverev.
There was further joy for the home fans late in the day when Florian Mayer cruised past Nikolay Davydenko of Russia 6-1, 6-3.
Mayer is in form after winning a Challenger event earlier this month.
The German faces Alexandr Dolgopolov of in the second round.
