Rafael Nadal kicked off his Rio Open title defence in style with a straight sets victory over Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci.
The world number three returned to clay and made hard work of the first set against Bellucci before kicking into gear to seal a 6-4 6-1 triumph at Jockey Club Brasileiro.
A run of six straight games saw Nadal go 4-0 up in the second set, before Bellucci finally stopped the rot and held serve.
Bellucci, 27, then staved off two match points in his next service game but an unforced error on a third handed Nadal victory after 90 minutes.
The Spaniard, who overcame Alexandr Dolgopolov in last year's final next faces Pablo Carreno Busta in the second round after he overcame Carlos Berlocq 6-3 6-7 (3/7) 6-0.
World number nine David Ferrer saw off fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-4 6-3 and explained afterwards that the 29-year-old qualifier pushed him harder than the scoreline suggests.
"I'm glad that I won," he told rioopen.com. "It wasn't easy in the first set, because Dani had a lot of chances, luckily he didn't take them. In the second, I felt a little bit better."
Fourth seed Fabio Fognini dug in to save three match points before coming back to see off 21-year-old Jiri Vesely 1-6 7-6 (9/7), 6-1.
Vesely was 6-3 up in the second set before world number 27 Fognini forced a tie break and turned the tide in his favour to book a meeting with Pablo Andujar in the next round after he beat Paolo Lorenzi 3-6 6-0 6-3.
Brazilian wild card Joao Souza delighted the home crowd with a 6-2 6-1 win over Argentinian qualifier Facundo Arguello to set up a clash with Slovakian Blaz Rola, who was 4-6 7-6 (7/3) 4-1 up when fifth seed Leonardo Mayer withdrew due to dehydration.
There were also wins for sixth seed Pablo Cuevas, Martin Klizan, Albert Montanes, Federico Delbonis and Juan Monaco.
In the women's draw top seed Sara Errani mirrored Nadal's efforts by dumping out a home favourite without too much fuss.
The Italian world number 16 cruised to a 6-3 6-3 triumph over Brazilian number one Teliana Pereira.
Errani, who needed 80 minutes to sign off the victory, told the WTA website: "I'm very happy about my match. I think I played a good game.
"She's a strong player on clay, so I knew it wouldn't be easy, but of course it's never easy to start a new tournament, and it's never easy to play on clay for the first time in a long time, so I really had to work hard today."
Third seed Roberta Vinci beat Czech Lucie Hradecka 7-6 (7/4) 6-3 to set up a second round match up with Veronica Cepede Royg after she overcame Paula Cristina Goncalves 6-2 7-5.
American Bethanie Mattek-Sands also won in straight sets, seeing off Danka Kovinic 6-4 6-3 and Brazilian teenager Beatriz Haddad Maia cruised past Maria Irigoyen 6-1 6-1.
Elsewhere there were wins for Paula Ormaechea, Dinah Pfizenmaier and Julia Glushko.
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