The top-seeded Spaniard defeated Russia's Dmitry Tursunov, 6-4, 6-4, in one of five first-round matches at the hardcourt tournament.

Nadal has not played poorly this season, but has endured a pair of frustrating defeats in his first two events. The 21-year-old's most recent setback came at the hands of Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the Australian Open semi-finals.

In his first event of the year in Chennai, Nadal reached the final but was denied his 24th career title by Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, who claimed a convincing 6-0, 6-1 victory.

Working against Nadal in that encounter was the fact that he had battled to a grueling 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (12-10), 7-6 (7-1) win over countryman Carlos Moya a day earlier in the semi-finals.

Nadal will most likely be a little fresher for his second-round match here with Andreas Seppi, a 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4) winner over 2004 champion Lleyton Hewitt.

Elsewhere in the second round, Russian qualifier Teimuraz Gabashvili advanced with a 6-2, 7-6 (9-7) victory over Nicolas Mahut.

Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic, who made headlines by taking world number one Roger Federer to five sets in Melbourne, faces Frenchman Gilles Simon in the other second-round showdown.

Other first-round winners were number five Tomas Berdych and Fernando Verdasco.