Juan Carlos Ferrero, Fernando Gonzales and Tommy Haas all recorded victories to lift the mood at the Swiss Indoor tournament on Tuesday.
Organisers breathed a sigh of relief as the three big guns made it through after the tournament was hit by the withdrawals of world number one Roger Federer and number two Rafael Nadal before a ball was struck.
Newly-promoted third seed Ferrero, the former world number one and 2003 French Open champion, eased past Italy's Filippo Volandri 6-2, 6-4 in 69 minutes.
"I felt pretty good out there and I'm playing pretty well indoors at the moment," said the Spaniard, referring to his strong performance in reaching the final of Vienna's indoor tournament earlier this month.
After climbing the rankings this year following a miserable slump in 2004 when he was hit by injuries and illness, Ferrero was playing down his remote chances of qualifying for the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai.
"It will be very difficult because I have to win here and (at next week's Masters Series tournament) in Paris but I have to keep going and try my best until it's finished," he said.
Chilean Gonzales had to work a little harder before overcoming Italy's Andreas Seppi 7-6, 6-3 while Haas also came through a first set tie-break before downing Davis Cup team mate Alexander Waske 7-6, 6-4.
"There were a lot of different emotions involved in playing someone you get on so well with off the court," Haas said.
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Swiss number two Stanislas Wawrinka failed to fill the gap left by Federer, losing to Belgian qualifier Kristof Vliegen 7-6, 4-6, 6-3.
"I was more nervous than I expected to be before the match," Wawrinka said. "But it had nothing to do with Roger not being here. If he was playing here, I'd have been just as nervous."
Top seeded Argentines Guillermo Coria and David Nalbandian are both due to play their opening matches on Wednesday, as is British sixth seed Tim Henman.
Henman -- twice a winner here -- will be up against fellow Briton Andy Murray, their first ever meeting.
"I am aware that these things get built up and blown out of proportion," Henman said on Tuesday when asked about the all-British encounter.
"But I'm not going to approach it any differently. I'll go out there knowing the way I want to play."
