Moscow, Russia (SportsNetwork.com) - Former top-10 player Juan Monaco and Croat Ivan Dodig were among Tuesday's opening-round winners at the Kremlin Cup tennis event.
The Argentine Monaco held off Italian Paolo Lorenzi 6-3, 5-7, 6-3, while Dodig drubbed Spaniard Pere Riba 6-4, 6-2 on the indoor surface at Olympic Stadium.
Meanwhile, last year's Moscow runner-up, Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin, came from behind to best Russian wild card Karen Khachanov 6-7 (3-7), 6-0, 6-2.
Kukushkin lost to Richard Gasquet in last year's finale.
Also on Day 2, Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis doused Russian fellow qualifier Aslan Karatsev 6-3, 6-4, Aussie Sam Groth stopped Russian wild card Andrey Rublev 7-6 (7-4), 7-5, and Russian wild card Evgeny Donskoy dismissed Israeli Dudi Sela 6-4, 6-0.
The top seeds here are Canadian slugger Milos Raonic and U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic. Raonic will open his stay against Berankis, while the Croatian Cilic will encounter Donskoy following a first-round bye.
This week's winner will claim $140,750.
