Mumbai: German wild card Nicholas Kiefer and compatriot Rainer Schuettler got past their French opponents with facile ease in their opening round singles matches of the $ 416,000 Kingfisher Airlines Open at the CCI hardcourts here on Tuesday evening.

Kiefer, who was once ranked at world No. 4, etched out a clinical display in defeating Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and 22 minutes, with the help of eight aces. Schuettler needed just a minute less to oust Julien Benneteau 7-5, 6-3 although he fired only two aces as compared to double the number dished out by the big serving loser.

It was sweet revenge for Schuettler (143) as the higher ranked Benneteau (61) had beaten him on clay at the Hamburg Masters in May.

“He has a good serve but I pretty much returned well and from the baseline I hit my winners because that’s my game,” the Swiss-based player said .

Wild card Rohan Bopanna (No. 245) spurned three match points before losing 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (9-11) to Frenchman Nicholas Devilder (117). Bopanna’s 17 aces didn't count in the end.

Navdeep Singh, too, was ousted, with Toshihide Matsui winning the battle of the qualifiers 6-4, 7-6 (8-6).

French veteran Fabrice Santoro, seeded fifth, cruised into the second round defeating countryman Eduoard Roger-Vasselin 6-1, 6-2.

In doubles, German Lars Burgsmuller teamed up with Olivier Rochus of Beligium to defeat Adam Davidson (US) and Rohan Gajjar 6-1, 6-3.

Most of these matches had started on Monday but could be completed only on Tuesday due to disruptions caused by rain.

The tournament got a shot in the arm with the arrival of Lleyton Hewitt, the Aussie ace, who is second seed here, Tuesday. ATP media relations official, Stephen Duckitt, quoting the player’s manager David Drysdale, said that Hewitt has decided to rest for a day but is looking forward to playing on Wednesday.

Hewitt took ill with a viral infection and pulled out of his reverse singles match on Sunday against Serbian Novak Djokovic in Australia’s ill-fated Davis Cup campaign in Belgrade. Australia were knocked out of the World Group for only the second time in their history.