Top seeds Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal enjoyed winning starts at the Western & Southern Open but Nick Kyrgios was an early casualty.
Murray and Nadal arrived in Cincinnati together, having won Olympic gold medals in Rio - in singles and doubles finals respectively - and despite the expectation of fatigue and jet lag the Scot saw off Juan Monaco 6-3 6-2 after the Spaniard had defeated Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas 6-1 7-6 (7/4).
Wawrinka, Switzerland's former French Open champion, had to resume his second-round encounter with teenager Jared Donaldson on Wednesday morning after heavy rain put paid to Tuesday's late action. He recovered from the loss of a first set to triumph 2-6 6-3 6-4, setting up a clash with Grigor Dimitrov.
The Bulgarian rallied to beat Feliciano Lopez 5-7 6-3 7-6 (7/5), whereas 14th seed Kyrgios bowed out on the back of a 7-6 (7/2) 4-6 7-6 (8/6) loss to Borna Coric, whose prize is a match against Nadal.
Kevin Anderson lies in wait for Murray - the South African made light work of Richard Gasquet in a 6-2 6-4 win.
Milos Raonic - the fourth seed - will tackle Japanese qualifier Yuichi Sugita in the third round after downing home hopeful John Isner 7-6 (7/5) 7-6 (7/5). Sugita, whose countryman Kei Nishikori ousted Mikhail Youzhny 6-3 6-2, surprised Isner's old sparring partner Nicolas Mahut with a 6-3 7-5 victory.
Bernard Tomic is Nishikori's next opponent following a 3-6 7-5 6-4 win against David Goffin.
Elsewhere, eighth seed Dominic Thiem booked a showdown with France's Gael Monfils after the pair trumped John Millman and Marcos Baghdatis respectively, while Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcame 18-year-old Reilly Opelka to ensure a meeting with Julien Benneteau's conqueror Steve Johnson.
Marin Cilic dominated Fernando Verdasco 6-3 6-1 and will play sixth seed Tomas Berdych, a 6-3 7-6 (7/4) winner against Marcel Granollers.
Source: PA
