Somdev Devvarman began the new season on a winning note, carving out a straight set win over world number 114 Kevin Kim to make the second round even as Rohan Bopanna was knocked of $ 450,000 ATP Chennai Open on Tuesday.
Somdev, ranked 202 in ATP ranking list, beat his American opponent 6-3, 6-3 quite comfortably in his opening round match of the hard court event.
However, the road for the numero uno singles player of the country will get tough from here as he will play against sixth seed Spaniard Carlos Moya in the next round.
Moya, who has been a champion in Chennai twice in 2004 and 2005, won 6-3, 7-6 (4) against Thai qualifier Danai Udomchoke.
Meanwhile, Bopanna -- second highest-ranked Indian player at 332 -- went down fighting against Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 4-6, 6-7 (3) in his first round.
Bopanna, who had entered the main draw as a qualifier put up a spirited fight but could not repeat the success of the qualifying event against world number 109.
Prakash Amritraj has already made a first round exit, losing his first round match on Monday against Germany's fifth seed Rainer Schuettler.
In another first round match, world number five Nikolay Davydenko packed off Austrian Daniel Koellerer, ranked 123rd in the world, 6-2 6-3.