Earlier, top seed Andy Murray survived a second set wobble to kick off his title defence with a 6-3, 7-6 win over Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. Ferrer, the world number eight, is fighting for one of three remaining places at the season-ending ATP Tour finals in London this month.
Ferrer will meet qualifier Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia in the second round.
World number five Soderling swept past Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-1, 6-4, and sixth-seed Nikolay Davydenko had a similarly easy ride, hammering wild card Javier Marti 6-2, 6-2.
At Basel, second seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia outclassed Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-4, 6-2 to seal a second-round berth in the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament on Tuesday.
David Nalbandian, Marin Cilic and Viktor Troicki also registered wins with out much sweat in the first round.