LYON, France -- Russian Mikhail Youzhny recorded his first match victory in more than a month Monday to reach the second round of the $905,670 Lyon Tennis Grand Prix.

Youzhny eliminated fourth seed Felix Mantilla of Spain, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), for his first win since advancing to the second round at Long Island in mid-August.

"This has been one of the toughest, if not the toughest, year of my career," said the 21-year-old Youzhny said, who is playing all the Masters Series events and all the Grand Slams for the first time. "I have four tournaments left now and I want to see what happens. I feel like I am playing well, but I want to take one match at a time."

Next up for Youzhny is Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty, who posted a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal.

In the only other main draw action, Belgian Olivier Rochus got past French wild card Thierry Ascione, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, and hard-serving Croatian Ivan Ljubicic beat Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3).

Rochus awaits the winner of the match between third seed Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand and David Sanchez of Spain, while Ljubicic will face either top-seeded Rainer Schuettler of Germany or Paul-Henri Mathieu of France.

Schuettler won the Japan Open last week for his first title of the year.