Verdasco has an easy opener in Italy

Former top-10 player Fernando Verdasco beat rising star Milos Raonic of Canada 6-4, 6-4 Sunday in the opening round of the Italian Open.

The 17th-ranked Verdasco broke serve early in both sets and never appeared in trouble against Raonic, who has jumped from 156th to 25th in the rankings since the start of the year.

Also, Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany beat 13th-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-4, 6-2, and 16th-seeded Richard Gasquet of France defeated Albert Montanes of Spain 6-2, 6-3.

Italian wild card Filippo Volandri dispatched Thiemo De Bakker of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-2, Florian Mayer of Germany beat Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-3, and Juan Monaco of Argentina overcame Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.