Two Seeds Win, Puerta On Today at ATP Bucharest

"It was very difficult but I played very well today," said the defending champ Acasuso. "Chela is a great player, he plays very well. I felt good on the court today and I'm very happy."

Mathieu gutted out the win while still recovering from a recent illness.

"I think I played a good match, the first set was tough. I was sick at the US Open and it was difficult for me to recover," the Frenchman said. "After the first set I think I played solid. It's a good win. I had five days to practice on clay before coming so it was okay."

Also into the second round were un-seeds Davide Sanguinetti of Italy (d. Sabau), Germany's Florian Mayer (d. O.Hernandez, bagel in the second), and Frenchman Florent Serra (d. (WC) Crivoi from a set down).

Four more were added to the clay dance floor with the completion of the qualifying in Al Portas (ESP), Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP), Oliver Marach (AUT), and Mariusz Fyrstenberg (POL).

On tap for Tuesday on the red dirt are (8) Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco vs. Zabaleta, (1) Puerta vs. Tipsarevic, A.Martin vs. (3) Pavel, (4) Hanescu vs. "You Say" Potito Starace, Behrend vs. (2) Volandri, Waske vs. Andreev, Montanes vs. (5) Gael "Force" Monfils, (Q) Marach vs. (Q) Fyrstenberg, (Q) Portas vs. Christophe "The Roach" Rochus, Horna vs. Guillermo "G-Lo" Garcia-Lopez, and an all-Spanish in Almagro vs. (Q) Ramirez Hidalgo.