Two-time champion Alex Corretja of Spain, seeded eighth, began his campaign for a third crown with an easy 6-1, 6-4 victory on Monday over Brazil's Fernando Meligeni in the opening round of the US$600,000 Swiss Open.

Corretja, returning to action for the first time since his semifinal exit at the French Open last month, is seeking to become the first player since Sergi Bruguera to win three titles in Gstaad, after winning it in 1998 and 2000.

It marked the eighth time Corretja and Meligeni met throughout their careers, with the Spaniard winning six times, including the last three matches on clay.

In other opening-round action, fifth-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina was toppled 6-7 (3) 6-3, 4-6 by Croatian qualifier Ivan Ljubicic.

Despite his higher ranking, Chela has never managed to defeat the Croatian, who has won all three of their head-to-heads.

In other play, Michail Juschni of Russia downed home favorite Michel Kratochvil 6-2, 6-4, while Felix Mantilla of Spain beat Romanian Adrian Voinea 6-3, 6-4.

Another Spaniard, David Sanchez, trounced Frenchman Anthony Dupuis 6-2, 6-1, and Slovakia's Karol Kucera eliminated Swiss player Ivo Heuberger 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.

In Bastad, Sweden, Argentina's Agustin Calleri beat fifth-seed Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in straight sets on the first day of play at the Swedish Open. Calleri won 6-1, 6-4 on the slow clay.

Nieminen, returning to Sweden after reaching the Stockholm Open final in October last year as a qualifier, was making his first start in Bastad's main draw. Earlier this year, the young Finn reached ATP finals at Estoril, Portugal, and Mallorca, Spain.

Younes El Aynaoui, the No. 2 seed from Morocco, outlasted this year's Copenhagen Open winner Lars Burgsmuller 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 for his first win over the German in three matches.

In other first-round matches, Albert Montanes of Spain beat Jan Vacek of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-3 and Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic ousted Vince Spadea of the United States 6-3, 6-1.

Also, Mariano Zabaleta of Argen-tina edged 17-year-old Swedish wild-card entry Robin Soderling 7-6 (3), 7-6 (8).

Fernando Gonzales of Chile beat Swedish veteran Magnus Larsson 7-5, 6-3 and Nikolai Davydenko of Russia rallied past Belgium's Christophe Rochus 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.