MONACO (AP) Fernando Verdasco of Spain and Jurgen Melzer of Austria advanced to the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Monday.
The 13th-seeded Verdasco, a finalist in 2010, dropped serve twice in the first set, but then did not face another break point in beating Belgium's Olivier Rochus 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. He next plays Croatia's Ivan Dodig.
The 15th-seeded Melzer had an easier match, breaking Poland's Lukasz Kubot five times en route to a 6-2, 7-5 win. He next faces Marcel Granollers of Spain or Frenchman Julien Benneteau.
Paul-Henri Mathieu, trying to find his way back after a long-term knee injury, thrashed Donald Young 6-0, 6-1. The Frenchman saved four break points of his own and broke Young's serve six times.
I was happy the way I was moving, and I was keeping the ball in the court,'' Mathieu said.I don't have the knees of a 20-year-old anymore. But I'm able to play 100 percent without any problems. Things are improving.''
Mathieu next plays No. 12 Kei Nishikori of Japan or Spain's Albert Ramos, runner-up Sunday at the Grand Prix Hassan II tournament.
In other first-round matches, Australia's Bernard Tomic, Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany and Finland's Jarkko Nieminen won in straight sets.
The 19-year-old Tomic was happy with how he mixed sliced forehands with heavy groundstrokes in his 6-4, 6-3 win against Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan.
Regardless of any surface, he's pretty hard to play against,'' Tomic said.A lot of clay-court players play behind the line. But I think my tennis is something different. If I play my tennis, they struggle with my game even on clay.''
Kohlschreiber won 6-4, 6-4 against Frenchman Guillaume Rufin, while Nieminen beat fellow veteran Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-6 (3) to earn a second-round match against seven-time defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain.