Second seed Rafael Nadal survived an early test of his Australian Open credentials, battling to a 7-6, 7-5, 6-1 win over Viktor Troicki, a Serbian qualifier in his first Grand Slam appearance.

Showing no signs of nerves, world number 126 Troicki forced a set point at 6-5 in the first set and led 4-2 in the second before Nadal finally wore him down to clinch victory in two hours, 35 minutes. “He played very, very aggressively,” Nadal said in a courtside interview. “I couldn’t get the rhythm in the beginning but in the third set I think I played a bit better.”

Ninth-seeded Andy Murray of Britain became the first high-profile casualty. Murray lost 7-5, 6-4, 0-6, 7-6 (5) to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, who gave Andy Roddick a tough time in the first round last year. Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina, seeded 18th, fell in four sets to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain.

Sixth-ranked Roddick had less trouble this time, advancing 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 over Czech qualifier Lukas Dlouhy, who self-destructed with 12 double-faults in the first two sets. No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko, still subject to an ATP investigation into illegal gambling, beat Michael Llodra 7-5, 7-5, 6-3.

Top-ranked Justine Henin ran off the last six games to finish off a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Japan’s Aiko Nakamura. Women’s No. 3 Jelena Jankovic wasn’t sure how she managed to beat Austria’s Tamira Paszek 2-6, 6-2, 12-10, fending off three match points in the third set.

Lindsay Davenport held off Italy’s Sara Errani 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 in what she called the worst outing of her comeback. She surpassed Steffi Graf atop the all-time list of money winners on the women’s tour at $21,897,501 with the win.

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