Fourth seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils made an impressive start to his title campaign with a straight sets win over Turkish qualifier Marsel Ilhan to reach the second round of the 2009 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, being played here in Tokyo, Japan.

Monfils was later joined by seventh seeded Swiss star Stanislas Wawrinka, who looked in equally enthralling form with a 6-4, 6-4 win over American John Isner to move ahead in the draw.

Meanwhile, another Swiss and qualifier Marco Chiudinelli continued his dream run with a hard fought 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over Israeli Dudi Sela in a match that lasted two hours and 9 minutes.

In the day's last match, unseeded Simon Greul of Germany beat Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in almost two hours of play to move ahead.