Nikolay Davydenko.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

HAMBURG, Germany -- Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia opened the defence of his German Open title by beating Florent Serra of France 6-3, 6-1 on Tuesday.

Like all seeded players, Davydenko had a bye in the first round and has now advanced to the third round.

Potito Starace of Italy outlasted Tommy Robredo of Spain 7-6 (10), 5-7, 6-1 to also reach the third round.

The 11th-seeded Robredo won the Hamburg tournament in 2006.

Florian Mayer of Germany beat another seeded player, rallying to win 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-3 against No. 15 Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine.

In other second-round action, Jarkko Nieminen of Finland ousted ninth-seeded Gilles Simon of France 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina defeated "lucky loser" Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-2 and Fabio Fognini of Italy beat Marc Gicquel of France 6-4, 6-4.