Melzer was runner-up last year in the clay-court tournament.
Sixth-seeded Florian Mayer of Germany beat Turkish qualifier Marsel Ilhan 6-4, 7-6 (5), and No. 8 Fernando Verdasco defeated fellow Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-2, 6-3.
Marin Cilic of Croatia used 16 aces to defeat Bastian Knittel of Germany 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4.
Rezai advances in Baku
In Baku, Azerbaijan, Aravane Rezai of France advanced to the quarterfinals of the Baku Cup on Wednesday when third-seeded Russian Elena Vesnina was forced to retire due to a viral illness.
Rezai increasingly looked the stronger player and went through 6-3, 1-0.
Recovering a break of serve in the opening game to level at 2-2, she then impressed with some fine serving and fierce returns.
The Frenchwoman broke again to lead 4-2 when her Russian opponent attempted a lob that landed long, and although Vesnina broke in the seventh game Rezai regained the upper hand by breaking for 5-3 and serving out the set with her third ace of the game.
Vesnina then called for medical attention and had her blood pressure taken, and retired after losing her serve in the opening game of the second set.
Fifth-seeded Monica Niculescu of Romania also failed to advance, losing 7-6 (2), 6-2 to Galina Voskoboeva.
The Kazakh repeatedly fought back in the opening set after going down a break three times. Niculescu broke for the third time to lead 6-5 and held a set point while trying to serve out the set. However, she double-faulted to drop serve and force the tiebreaker, which Voskoboeva dominated.
After an early exchange of breaks in the second set, Voskoboeva took control and swept the final four games.
Seventh seed Ksenia Pervak advanced with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Vesna Dolonts in an all-Russian clash, and Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine also reached the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus.
Hewitt leads Aussie assault at ATP Atlanta
In Atlanta, Georgia, Davis Cup teammates Lleyton Hewitt and Marinko Matosevic led an Aussie assault as the unseeded pair gate-crashed into the second round of the ATP Tour’s Atlanta Championships.
Former number one Hewitt on Tuesday connected on a superlative 89 percent of his first-serve points (25 of 28) in a 6-4, 6-4 crushing of American qualifier Phillip Simmonds. Matosevic, ranked 69th and a first-round Wimbledon victim, upset Russian sixth seed Igor Kunitsyn 6-7 (3/7), 6-2, 7-5.
Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun, a winner over German Matthias Bachinger 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) will be the next opponent for Matosevic, who earned his first ATP victory of the season from six starts. It was only the second victory of his career on the Tour.
Hewitt, with 28 career titles, is playing a full hardcourt schedule this season prior to the US open, and hoping for free entries into Masters 1000 tests in Montreal and Cincinnati next month based upon past performance.
If he cannot make a substantial rise over the next month, the 2001 winner could possibly find himself playing qualifying if a New York wild card does not materialize.
Hewitt next takes on Rajeev Ram of the US, who upset Bulgarian fifth seed Gregor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-4.
In other results to complete the opening round, 19-year-old Ryan Harrison, - youngest player in the field - put out Japan’s Yuichi Sugita 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) while Robby Ginepri won his first match since last August following a mountain bike crash caused by a runaway squirrel, defeating former No. 2 Tommy Haas 6-4, 7-5.
