Last year's men's finalists Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray had contrasting first round wins on the second day of the Australian Open, while Jo-Wilfried Tsonga survived a scare to also move into the second round.
Defending champion Djokovic has marked his first Tour match of the year with a brutal three-set thrashing of Italian Paolo Lorenzi, but Murray struggled through his battle against American Ryan Harrison.
Djokovic reeled off the final 17 games of the match after the Italian had the temerity to break him early in the first set, winning 6-2 6-0 6-0 in a clash on Rod Laver Arena which lasted an hour and 32 minutes.
It was high level tennis from the man who won three of the four Grand Slams last year, as he hit 22 winners and made just 13 unforced errors.
Colombian Santiago Giraldo, who easily outpointed Italian Matteo Viola to make the second round of this tournament for the third consecutive year, is next for Djokovic.
Murray had a tougher time of it against Harrison, who took the first set off the Scot before he rallied to win the match 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-2 in three hours and 12 minutes.
The world number four will take on Frenchman Edouard Rogers-Vasselin in the next round after he was handed passage through to the final 64 when Belgian veteran Xavier Malisse retired after losing a first-set tie-breaker.
French sixth seed Tsonga laboured to a 6-4 3-6 6-2 7-5 victory over Denis Istomin in close to three hours under lights on Margaret Court Arena.
The 2008 runner-up was not at his best, but did enough to book a second-round date with Brazilian Ricardo Mello, who cruised past Spanish qualifier Roberto Bautista-Agut.
No.5 seed David Ferrer made similarly light work of his first-up assignment, demolishing Portugal's Rui Machado in straight sets.
Ferrer, a semi-finalist in Melbourne 12 months ago, looked in supreme touch as he vanquished the world number 70 6-1 6-4 6-2 in one hour and 44 minutes. He now plays American Ryan Sweeting, who took care of Matthias Bachinger in straight sets.
Djokovic's compatriot and ninth seed Janko Tipsarevic worked his way past Dmitry Tursunov in four sets 5-7 7-6 (14-12) 6-3 6-4 and now plays local wildcard James Duckworth, who defeated Jurgen Zopp.
Viktor Troicki was also victorious on a great day for the Serbs with the 19th seed coming back from the brink of defeat to down former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero 4-6 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 7-6 (7-3) 6-2. He will now play Mikhail Kukushkin after the Kazakh posted an impressive 6-4 6-3 6-0 win over Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
French 12th seed Gilles Simon survived a five-set epic to battle past world No.201 Danai Udomchoke 6-1 3-6 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-2 and will now play compatriot Julien Benneteau after he posted a 6-4 6-2 7-5 win over Karol Beck.
There was more French joy with 14th seed Gael Monfils cruising past Aussie wildcard playoff winner Marinko Matosevic , while number 17 seed Richard Gasquet had a minor blip against Italian Andreas Seppi, before winning 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-1 and now gets Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev - a five-set winner over Mikhail Youzhny.
American 15th seed Andy Roddick cruised past Dutchman Robin Haase 6-3 6-4 6-1 to set up a blockbuster second-round clash with fellow veteran Lleyton Hewitt after the Australian defeated Cedrik-Marcel Stebe in four tough sets.
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