Michael Llodra of France defeated Nikolay Davydenko of Russia 6-3, 7-6 (4) Monday on the opening day of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament.
Llodra, the 2008 champion, won Davydenko's first service game for the only break of the match and then saved two break points to take the first set. In the second set, Davydenko saved four break points to force a tiebreaker.
''I knew before the match I had to serve big against him,'' Llodra said. ''He is such a good returner.''
Fifth-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria downed Dutch wild card Jesse Huta Galung 6-4, 6-4 to set up a second-round match with Marin Cilic of Croatia. Cilic downed German qualifier Mischa Zverev 6-2, 6-4.
In other first-round matches, Viktor Troicki of Serbia defeated Dutch wild card Thomas Schoorel 6-2, 7-6 (1), and Dmitry Tursunov of Russia beat Kazakhstan qualifier Andrey Golubev 6-4, 7-5.
