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.
Published 03 November 2010, 17:00 IST