Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray posted straight-set victories on Wednesday in their opening matches at the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters.
Top seed Djokovic had to fight back in the opening set on the way to a second-round win over Argentine Juan Monaco 7-5 6-2.
Receiving a first-round bye with the Serb, second seed and world No.2 Murray kickstarted his run-up to his US Open title defence with a 6-2 6-3 defeat of Mikhail Youzhny.
Murray, eliminated a week ago in the Montreal third round, needed just 70 minutes to see off the Russian and move into a match with Frenchman Julien Benneteau.
Djokovic is trying to complete an unprecedented career haul of all nine Masters 1000 titles and only needs to win in Ohio to reach the goal.
“I stopped moving my legs; I didn’t really go for my shots,” he said of the first set.
“I let him dictate the play and waited for his mistake, which was not the right tactic. It was the first match here in Cincinnati, which has different conditions from what we played in Montreal.”
Djokovic will next square off against Belgian qualifier David Goffin, who defeated Canada’s Vasek Pospisil 7-5 1-6 7-6 (8-6).
“I put a lot of pressure on myself to get through this one,” Murray said. “With the US Open only a couple of weeks away, I need to stay in form.”
Montreal champion Rafael Nadal began with a win over Benjamin Becker 6-2 6-2, while Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych eliminated Finn Jarkko Nieminen 6-3 6-2.
Argentine seventh-seed Juan Martin del Potro put out Nikolay Davydenko 7-5 7-5 and American John Isner set up a duel with Milos Raonic.
Isner beat French eighth-seed Richard Gasquet 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 while Raonic defeated Janko Tipsarevic 6-4 7-6 (7-4).
Women’s top seed Serena Williams lost the first set to Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard before winning 4-6 6-2 6-2.
Li Na rallied past American Lauren Davis 4-6 6-1 6-1, No.6 Sara Errani defeated Polona Hercog 6-4 5-7 6-4 while 12th seed Roberta Vinci downed German Andrea Petkovic 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-3.
Petra Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon winner, beat New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic 6-4 6-7 (7-9) 6-3, German ninth seed Angelique Kerber stopped Alisa Kleybanova 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 and former No.1 Caroline Wozniacki defeated Monica Niculescu 6-4 6-3.
France’s Marion Bartoli made a shock retirement announcement on Wednesday, ending her career at the top of her game just six weeks after winning Wimbledon.
Ranked a career-high world No.7, she cited a string of injuries, dropping the bombshell shortly after a second-round loss in Cincinnati to Romanian Simona Halep.
Samantha Stosur is through to the third round with a 6-3 7-6 (7-3) win over American wildcard Jamie Hampton.
The 11th-seeded Australian will next face Halep, hoping to continue her hardcourt build-up to the US Open after winning the New York title in 2011.
The 29-year-old lifted the Southern California Open title two weeks ago in Carlsbad.
