Champions Argentina made a perfect start to their World Team Cup defence, beating Kazakhstan 3-0 in their opening red group game on Sunday. Juan Monaco eased past Andrey Golubev 6-4 6-0 on the clay court at the Rochus club while compatriot Juan Ignacio Chela disposed of Mikhail Kukushkin 6-1 6-2.
Monaco, ranked 37th in the world, then teamed up with Maximo Gonzalez to beat Golubev and Kukushkin 6-4 6-3 to complete the rout.
Hosts Germany took a 1-0 lead over 2009 champions Serbia in the blue group with Philipp Kohlschreiber needing a second set tiebreak to edge past Janko Tipsarevic 6-4 7-6. Kohlschreiber was too consistent on the red clay for the erratic Serbian who saved a matchpoint at 5-4 with a fine forehand winner to force a tiebreak in the second set.
The 27-year-old German, however, wrapped up the win by whipping a fierce backhand down the line.
Russia also took a 1-0 lead over Spain when Mikhail Youzhny, the world number 13, beat Marcel Granollers 6-3 6-4.
The event, hosted since 1978 returned to the tennis calendar in January only weeks after it was officially scrapped due to a lack of money.
An energy drink company came on board as the main sponsor to rescue the tournament which pits national teams against each other over one week.
It has not attracted the top players in recent years but is considered as a useful warm-up for the French Open, which begins nnext Sunday.