Gasquet was beaten by Andy Murray at Wimbledon recently

Richard Gasquet began his bid to reach his second Toronto Masters final in three years with a 6-2 4-6 6-3 victory over fellow Frenchman Michael Llodra.

Gasquet, runner-up to Roger Federer in 2006, dropped the second set but broke twice in the third to seal the win.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray all have first-round byes.

British number one Murray will meet Thomas Johansson or Andrey Golubev in his opening match on Wednesday.

Third seed Djokovic faces Canadian Frank Dancevic, who caused a minor upset on the first day of the tournament by beating Mario Ancic 6-3 6-4.

"Obviously this is the surface that suits my game most," said Australian Open champion Djokovic.

"It is my most preferred surface, the surface where I did my best results and biggest achievement of my career.

"So I think it is enough reason to expect to do well in the hard-court season.

"Defending this title I have a lot of responsibilities and expectations but it is a challenge."

Djokovic, like Federer and Nadal, is back in action for the first time since Wimbledon where he suffered a shock second-round defeat by Marat Safin.

606: DEBATE Federer is fighting for his number one ranking like never before TheOpinion

Nadal went on to overcome world number one Federer in an epic final.

Six-time Grand Slam winner Boris Becker believes the balance of power shifted in favour of the Spaniard following his triumph over the Swiss world number one at Wimbledon.

"Obviously in the rankings, there is still a number one called Federer," he said prior to his induction into the Canadian Hall of Fame in Toronto.

"But if you talk to anybody in the world of tennis, the number one is the winner of the French Open and Wimbledon.

"Nadal has just improved to a level that nobody expected. We all knew that he's great on clay, but nobody expected him to play that well on grass.

"You cannot really blame Federer playing badly, you can only give credit to Nadal for really raising his game to another level and winning."

Nadal, 22, said he was only focusing on winning the title in Toronto, not overtaking Federer.

"I don't think anybody doesn't want to be number one," said the Spaniard.

"I want to be number one for sure but not right now. Right now, I want to play a very good tournament here in Toronto."