On a day when the United States whitewashed France 3-0, world No.4 Murray brought Britain level with Italy by beating Potito Starace 7-5 6-1 after French Open champion Francesca Schiavone had beaten Laura Robson 7-5 6-3.

However, the Britons were edged out 6-7 7-6 10-2 (match tiebreak) in the deciding mixed doubles.

Britain now face an uphill struggle if they are to match their run to the final of 12 months ago.

Murray found it hard going in the hot and humid conditions inside the Burswood Dome but after a slow start, he overpowered Starace, breaking once to win the first set and then cruising through the second.

The 16-year-old Robson had been struggling with a cold in the build-up to the match but was impressive against Schiavone, ranked 210 places above her at seven.

When Robson broke to lead 5-3 a shock seemed possible but Schiavone won seven straight games to take control and held off a spirited Robson fight back to clinch victory.

Murray and Robson looked on course for victory in the mixed doubles when they broke to lead 4-3 in the second set but as Murray tired, the Italians hit back to level the match and then take the deciding match tiebreak 10-2.

Former junior world number one Kristina Mladenovic took the first set against Bethanie Mattek-Sands but that was as good it got for France

Dressed more like the pop star Pink than a traditional tennis player, Mattek-Sands won 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 to give the US a 1-0 lead and John Isner made sure there would be no repeat of his epic Wimbledon encounter with Nicolas Mahut as he beat the Frenchman 6-3 7-6.

It was the first meeting between the two since their 11 hours, five-minute first-round encounter at the All England Club last June when Isner edged it 70-68 in the final set.

This time, the match was over in just 90 minutes, much to the relief of Isner.

"If I'd lost that second set it might have gone four hours," said Isner, who later joined Mattek-Sands to win the mixed doubles 2-6, 6-3, 10-8.

"But first match of the season, I'm pretty pleased with how I played."

Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova had to withdraw with a right knee injury. She will be replaced by world No. 140 Sesil Karatantcheva.

In Chennai, Japan's Kei Nishikori dashed Marin Cilic's hopes of a Chennai title hat trick, upstaging the towering second-seeded Croatian in a see-saw first-round match on Monday.

Beaten in a five-setter in his previous meeting with Nishikori in last year's US Open, twice winner Cilic drew first blood but Nishikori clawed his way back to seal a 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 win in more than two-and-a-half hours.

Nishikori next meets the winner of Tuesday's match between Colombia's Alejandro Falla and Portuguese Rui Machado.

Top seed Tomas Berdych begins his campaign on Tuesday against Portugal's Frederico Gil.

Standing a good eight inches taller than an opponent ranked 84 places behind him, world number 14 Cilic could not press home his advantage after winning the first set.

Nishikori made a remarkable comeback in the second set, which went to a tiebreaker he won without dropping a point and the Japanese broke Cilic twice in the decider.

Germany's Bjorn Phau, Frenchman Stephane Robert and American Robert Kendrick also reached the second round.

In Brisbane, Australia's top seed Samantha Stosur overcame a sluggish start to power into the second round of the Brisbane International, with a 7-6 (7/1), 6-1 win over Czech qualifier Lucie Hradecka on Monday.

Israel's second-seeded Shahar Peer and France's fourth-ranked Marion Bartoli also progressed, but third seed Nadia Petrova of Russia was bundled out by Czech player Petra Kvitova 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.

Playing in front of a capacity home crowd at the Pat Rafter Arena, Stosur appeared nervous as she dropped her opening service game to her 25-year-old opponent.

Peer earlier progressed with a straightforward win over Australian wildcard Sophie Ferguson.

Despite appearing to suffer from the heat and humidity, Peer brushed aside the 24-year-old Australian 6-4, 6-2 to set up a second-round clash against Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.

Bartoli, who reached the final here in 2009, was also impressive in her 6-1, 6-2 demolition of US qualifier Vania King in just 61 minutes.

However, Petrova was outplayed by Kvitova to lose in the first round for the second year in a row following her exit at the hands of Justine Henin in 2010.

Russia's Ksenia Pervak, who lost in qualifying but came into the tournament as a late replacement for injured Daniela Hantuchova, took full advantage of her second chance when she beat fellow countrywoman Anna Chakvetadze 6-2, 6-2.

Other winners included Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova, a 6-3, 6-0 winner over Italy's Sara Errani and Andrea Petkovic of Germany, who ousted eighth seeded Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru 6-3, 6-0.

Czech player Iveta Benesova beat Polona Hercog of Slovenia 6-2, 7-5 and fellow Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova beat Georgia's Anna Tatishvili 7-5, 6-2.