Indian Wells, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Quality Frenchman Julien Benneteau posted a first-round victory Friday at the $4.72 million BNP Paribas Open, the first Masters 1000 event of the year.
The former top-30 performer overcame Spanish qualifier Daniel Munoz-De La Nava 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 at the beautiful Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Benneteau's second- round opponent will be ninth-seeded compatriot Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Aussie Marinko Matosevic topped American and former NCAA singles champion Bradley Klahn 6-4, 6-4.
Also advancing on Day 2 were Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili, Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin, Taipei's Yen-Hsun Lu, and Portuguese Joao Sousa.
This week's top seeds are three-time champion Rafael Nadal, two-time winner Novak Djokovic and Australian Open champ Stan Wawrinka. Four-time Indian Wells champion Roger Federer, fresh off his title in Dubai, is the seventh seed. Wawrinka and Federer played doubles together and posted a three-set victory over Indian Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan's Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi on Friday.
The three-time Indian Wells titlist Nadal beat Juan Martin del Potro in last year's marquee finale.
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