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The second-seeded Safin rallied to beat Jiri Novak 6-7 6-1 6-1, while Coria edged Fernando Gonzalez 7-6 5-7 6-4.

Defending champion Carlos Moya lost 6-4 7-6 to local wildcard Potito Starace as last year's runner-up David Nalbandian went out to France's Fabrice Santoro.

Third seed Gaston Gaudio and fifth seed Rafael Nadal won in straight sets.

Safin, who led 5-2 in the first set, said: "I don't know what happened.

"I think I was a little bit over-confident and tried to finish the first set too fast. I started to make some mistakes and lost my confidence."

The Russain next faces qualifier Nicolas Almagro of Spain.

Argentine ninth seed Coria triumphed in just under three hours after weathering Chilean Gonzalez's 13 aces at the Foro Italico.

"It was very difficult as Gonzalez kept firing these missiles down at me and I wasn't able to put away my break points," said the 22-year-old.

"I didn't play very well, but I'm very pleased to go through."

Coria will now play Nicolas Kiefer, who defeated fellow German Tommy Haas 6-3 6-1.

Spanish maestro Nadal, seeking his fifth singles title this year, crushed Russia's Mikhail Youzhny 6-0 6-2 while Gaudio overcame Slovakian Karol Beck 6-4 6-3.

Spain's Moya, the seventh seed, retired from the semi-finals in Estoril last week with a shoulder injury and looked short of his best against Italian Starace.

"I came here to see if I could win a couple of matches and see how the shoulder was," Moya said. "If you have a look at the average speed of my service you'll realise there's something happening there."

Eighth-seeded Nalbandian crashed out 6-4 1-6 6-4 to Santoro.

Czech 15th seed Radek Stepanek beat Croatian Mario Ancic 6-1 6-7 6-3 to set up a second-round clash with Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela, a comfortable 6-4 6-4 winner against Frenchman Michael Llodra.