Tenth-seeded Harel Levy had little trouble in brushing aside local favorite Satoshi Iwabuchi on a rain-soaked Monday as the $970,000 Japan Open tennis tournament got off to a sluggish start.
With a constant downpour washing out play on Ariake Tennis Forest Park's outdoor courts, Levy wrapped up the men's singles action on under the center court roof by disposing of unseeded Iwabuchi 6-3, 6-3 to book his place in the second round.
In Monday's opener, Japan's top-ranked male singles player Yaoki Ishii made a first-round exit for the second year running after going down in straight sets to James Blake of the United States.
Ishii, ranked 260th in the world, had no answer to the 109th-ranked American's powerful serve and made a series of unforced errors resulting in a 6-3, 6-4 defeat.
The top eight seeds including newly-crowned U.S. Open champion Lleyton Hewitt of Australia -- the No. 1 seed here -- received byes to the second round.