Leander Paes and Czech partner Martin Damm advanced to the second round of the indoor ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam on Monday.

The fourth seeds, who were ousted in the opening round last year, beat Italian pair of Simone Bolelli and Flavio Cipolla 6-4, 6-1 in just 58 minutes.

Paes and Damm, who finished runners up in Doha in the first week of the year, now hold a 9-3 match record this season.

Mahesh Bhupathi has teamed up with Paes' former doubles partner Nenad Zimonjic for the event. The Indo-Serb pair will take on Belgium's Olivier Rochus and Kristof Vliegen in the first round.

In the singles draw, top seed Nikolay Davydenko eliminated German Michael Berrer 6-3 6-4 in the first round.

The Russian had been originally scheduled to meet Robin Soderling, who beat the world's number three last week in Marseille, but the Swede pulled out through injury on Sunday.

After breaking Berrer in the sixth game of the first set, an early break in the second was enough for Davydenko to seal the victory.

Fifth-seeded Serb Novak Djokovic cruised into the last sixteen following a 7-6 6-4 win over Florent Serra, his first indoor win this season.

"This was my second indoor match this year, after a third set tiebreak defeat in Marseille last week, but I felt comfortable with my game," Djokovic told reporters.

"I need to improve my game as it was a close call today. I want to put more aggression in it."

Djokovic, last year's quarter-finalist in Rotterdam, will play Romanian Andrei Pavel in the second round. Qualifier Pavel brushed aside Daniele Bracciali 6-1 6-1 in 50 minutes.

Wild card Robin Haase, one of the three Dutchmen in the tournament, overcame Roko Karanusic 6-3 7-6 for his first ATP tour win.