Roger Federer has joined fellow big guns Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych in the second round of the Australian Open after a comfortable straight-sets victory at Rod Laver Arena on Monday night.
Mardy Fish and Juan Martin del Potro also advanced but their fellow seeds Fernando Verdasco, Juan Monaco, Ivan Ljubicic and Jurgen Melzer all crashed out.
Returning the court where he has been crowned champion four times, Swiss third seed Federer was made to work before posting a 7-5 6-2 6-2 win over Russian qualifier Alexander Kudryavtsev.
Federer struggled to make inroads on the world No.172's serve until finally he achieved the only break of the first set in the 12th game.
Kudryavtsev needed treatment on his leg in the early stages of the second set, which paved the way for Federer to up the ante as he cruised through the final two sets.
The 16-time Grand Slam champion will place Andreas Beck in the second round after the German posted a 6-4 6-2 4-6 7-5 victory over Eric Prodon.
Earlier, second seed Nadal had no trouble in getting past American qualifier Alex Kuznetsov with the 2009 champion winning 6-4 6-1 6-1 in just 106 minutes.
Nadal showed no signs of the shoulder injury that hampered him in lead up with the Spaniard smashing 42 winners in the rout.
He will now play three-time semi-finalist Tommy Haas after the veteran defeated American Denis Kudla 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-0 7-5.
Czech No.7 seed Berdych, who was a quarter-finalist at last year's Australian Open, didn't have it all his own way as he was forced to work for a 7-5 4-6 6-2 6-3 win over Spaniard Albert Ramos.
Eighth-seeded American Fish, who reached the last eight at Melbourne Park five years ago, spent just over two hours on Show Court 3 before emerging with a comfortable 6-4 6-4 6-2 victory over Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.
Spanish 10th seed Nicolas Almagro fell behind early in his Court 6 battle with Poland's Lukasz Kubot but battled back to win 1-6 7-5 6-3 7-5, as did 2009 US Open champion del Potro, the Argentine 11th seed coming from a set down to see off stubborn Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 2-6 6-1 7-5 6-4.
But rising local star Bernard Tomic recovered from a two-set deficit to send Spanish 22nd seed and 2009 semi-finalist Verdasco packing 4-6 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 6-2 7-5, a couple of hours after Croatian Ivo Karlovic had dumped Austrian No.31 seed Jurgen Melzer 7-6 (7-3) 7-5 6-3.
And No.25 seed Monaco became the third seed to fall later in the afternoon when he lost 7-5 4-6 6-3 6-7 (7-4) 6-0 to German Philipp Kohlschreiber, while No.28 seed Ljubicic was also sent packing after he lost to Slovakian qualifier Lukas Lacko in another five-set epic 3-6 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4.
Ukrainian 13th seed Alexandr Dolgopolov overturned a two-set deficit to defeat local Greg Jones 1-6 4-6 6-1 6-1 6-2, American 16th seed John Isner was too good for local wildcard Benjamin Mitchell 6-4 6-4 7-6 (7-1) and Spanish No.18 seed Feliciano Lopez tamed Argentine Leonardo Mayer 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 7-6 (7-2).
Swiss No.21 seed Stanislas Wawrinka cruised to a 6-1 6-1 7-5 win over Frenchman Benoit Paire and South African 30th seed Kevin Anderson had a straightforward 6-1 6-2 6-4 win over Dane Frederik Nielsen.
Belgian Olivier Rochus booked a second-round date with Berdych after he beat German Bjorn Phau