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Former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero withstood a barrage of big serves from fiery Russian challenger Alexandre Kudryavtsev.

The Spaniard capitalised on a string of unforced errors from Kudryavtsev to pull off a 6-4 6-3 win in only 69 minutes.

"I didn't know him in the beginning ... I was asking players and they told me he's the kind of player who hits the ball very hard all the time," said Ferrero.

"He was serving very good all the time but at important moments ... he felt the pressure a little bit."

Having surrendered the first set after cursing himself and the line judges, 225th-ranked Kudryavtsev calmed down to break Ferrero early in the second. He took a 3-1 lead after firing a number of searing winners from behind the baseline.

But two double faults in his next service game and a raft of unforced errors put paid to the fightback, and allowed Ferrero to break back twice and serve out the match with an ace.

The former French Open champion, who is chasing his first title since winning the Madrid Masters in 2003, has suffered a number of injury setbacks in 2008 and retired hurt at Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

Fellow Spaniard, sixth seed Tommy Robredo, advanced to the second round after easing past countryman Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-4 7-5.

Reuters