Rusedski, who missed most of 2003 with foot, knee and back complaints and saw his ranking slip to 118, beat Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-4. The 1998 champion here, back at 38 in the rankings, now takes on Russian third seed Nikolay Davydenko.
Blake, whose 2004 campaign was hit by a neck injury, temporary paralysis and then the death of his father, slumped to 210 in the world in February but, with titles in New Haven and Stockholm, he is a player reborn.
On Monday, the American, now ranked 24, saw off Belgian Olivier Rochus 6-4, 6-3 in just 59 minutes and next faces Croatian sixth seed Ivan Ljubicic.
But as they were celebrating their safe passage, the 2,082,500-euro tournament, which had already been stripped of five of the world's top six, lost two more players to the medics. French teenager Gael Monfils, a losing finalist to Andy Roddick in Lyon at the weekend, withdrew from his scheduled Tuesday clash against compatriot Nicolas Mahut with a left knee injury.
Romania's Victor Hanescu, meanwhile, was trailing 4-1 to Serb qualifier Novak Djokovic when he called it quits after just 19 minutes suffering from a stomach strain.
"I will go on holiday, probably Martinique or Guadeloupe, and do every stupid thing I can like other 19-year-olds," said Monfils. The tournament, the ninth and last of the 2005 Masters series of events, had already been deprived through injury of world number one Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, the world number two, as well as Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi and Marat Safin. They were joined on the sidelines by Tim Henman, the 2003 champion.
World number three Andy Roddick is the top seed. Fresh from securing his fifth title in Lyon, and 20th of his career, the American will open his campaign against either compatriot Taylor Dent or France's Sebastien Grosjean, the 2001 champion.
Second seed is Argentina's Guillermo Coria who is battling countrymen David Nalbandian and Gaston Gaudio as well as Davydenko and Ljubicic for the remaining places at the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai next month.
Federer, Nadal, Hewitt, Agassi as well as Roddick have already made sure of their spots in the eight-man field in China. Also going through to the next round here on Monday were three other qualifiers - Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, Russia's Dimitry Tursunov and Kristof Vliegen of Belgium.
The day's most gruelling encounter saw France's Paul-Henri Mathieu take 2hr 31min to beat Italy's Davide Sanguinetti 5-7, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.
COLLATED RESULTS (x denotes seeded player):
FIRST ROUND: Greg Rusedski (GBR) bt Andreas Seppi (ITA) 6-3, 6-4; Kristof Vliegen (BEL) bt Christophe Rochus (BEL) 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-2; Tomas Berdych (CZE) bt Jiri Novak (CZE) 7-5, 6-3; Feliciano Lopez (ESP) bt Xavier Malisse (BEL) 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4; Novak Djokovic (SEM) bt Victor Hanescu (ROM) 4-1 - retired;m Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) bt Florent Serra (FRA) 6-3, 6-4; Dimitry Tursunov (RUS) bt Vincent Spadea (USA) 6-1, 6-2; Tommy Haas (GER) bt Andrei Pavel (ROM) 7-6 (8/6), 6-4; Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) bt Davide Sanguinetti (ITA) 5-7, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4; James Blake (USA) bt Olivier Rochus (BEL) 6-4, 6-3.