Jo-Wilfried Tsonga booked his place in the US Open second round with a straight sets win against Karol Beck.
The French world number six, seeded fifth in the absence of Rafael Nadal, came from a break down in the third set to win 6-3 6-1 7-6 (7-2).
Joining him in round two is sixth seed Tomas Berydch after the Czech beat Belgium's David Goffin 7-5 6-3 6-3.
Andy Roddick beat fellow American Rhyne Williams 6-3 6-4 6-4 while defending champion Novak Djokovic plays later.
Tsonga made the quarter-finals in New York for the first time last year and has made a strong start in his latest campaign.
The Wimbledon semi-finalist dominated the opening two sets but found himself trailing Beck 5-3 in the third.
But Tsonga immediately overturned the break of serve before outclassing his opponent in the tie-break.
He next plays another Slovakian in Martin Klizan and remains on course for a quarter-final meeting with Andy Murray.
"I think I played good tennis the first two sets, and after that I lost a bit concentration at the beginning of the third," said Tsonga.
"It took some effort to come back. It was not easy today because the weather was hot. I'm happy to go through really quickly."
Berdych was similarly comfortable against 21-year-old Goffin and meets Jurgen Zopp of Estonia in the second round.
Number 20 seed Roddick, the champion in 2003, dispatched 21-year-old Williams and next faces Bernard Tomic or Carlos Berlocq.
Spanish 11th seed Nicolas Almagro beat Radek Stepanek 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4 and next plays Germany's Philipp Petzschner, who outlasted Nicolas Mahut in three hours and 31 minutes.
Big-serving 15th seed Milos Raonic of Canada, a possible fourth-round opponent of Murray, battled past Santiago Giraldo 6-3 4-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 and will meet Paul-Henri Mathieu after the Frenchman overcame Igor Andreev in five sets.
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