Cameron Norrie marked his first appearance on the British grass courts since last year's Wimbledon semi-finals with a confident win at Queen's.
British number one Norrie beat Serbia's Miomir Kecmanovic 6-4 7-6 (7-5) on the first day of the competition.
Compatriot Ryan Peniston, who reached the quarter-finals last year, earned an impressive win on his return after being given a wildcard.
The world number 265 shocked 37th-ranked Frenchman Ugo Humbert 6-4 6-2.
Dan Evans, Britain's second highest-ranked man, will aim to secure a hat-trick of home victories later on Monday when he plays American Sebastian Korda.
A busy day for the British contingent will be rounded off when 167th-ranked Jan Choinski - another player given a wildcard - takes on Italian sixth seed Lorenzo Musetti.
Former world number one Andy Murray, who won the ATP Challenger tournament in Nottingham on Sunday, plays his opening match on Tuesday.
Five-time singles champion Murray faces a step up in class when he takes on Australian seventh seed Alex de Minaur.
Norrie happy to be back on the grass
Two weeks after losing in the third round on the French Open clay, Norrie was back on home turf as he looks to replicate a thrilling run at Wimbledon 12 months ago.
In his first match on grass since losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic at SW19, the fifth seed moved well in a solid victory.
The 27-year-old is only planning to compete at Queen's before Wimbledon begins on 3 July and his objective of playing as many matches as possible this week started positively.
Norrie edged a tight opening set by breaking to love in the 10th game and gained further control by taking 40th-ranked Kecmanovic's serve early in the second set.
While the Serb instantly broke back, Norrie had a chance to seal the match in the 12th game but had to be patient, ultimately taking his fifth match point when Kecmanovic hit a stretching forehand long.
"It feels good to be back on the grass and back playing in London," said Norrie, who had led 6-2 in the tie-break.
"It wasn't easy to get over the line, I had a couple of chances towards the end of the second set, I donated my serve at 3-1 and then he saved a number of match points.
"I was glad to see the forehand fly long at the end. It is always tricky in the first match on grass and there are a few things to work on, but I enjoyed that."
Norrie will face either Australian Jordan Thompson or 2016 Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic of Canada.
Peniston hungry for more Queen's success
Peniston, 27, reached a career-high of 123rd in the world last summer on the back of a superb run to the Queen's quarter-finals, which also brought his inspiring story of beating cancer as a child to a wider audience.
The left-hander from Essex was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma - a soft tissue tumour - at the age of one, needing chemotherapy and surgery over 18 months before recovering.
After registering eye-catching victories over Norwegian top seed Casper Ruud and Argentine world number 46 Francisco Cerundolo to reach the last eight last year, Peniston said he hoped his family would be "very proud" of his journey.
Since then he has dropped outside the top 250 and, after not playing in the main draw of a top-level event in 2023, was given a wildcard at the west London club this year.
Peniston justified that decision with another memorable performance against 24-year-old Humbert, who won the grass-court title in Halle two years ago but was out-of-sorts against the British number seven.
"I loved playing here last year so to come back feels pretty comfortable on the court," said Peniston, who also has the pressure of defending the ranking points he earned 12 months ago.
"It gave me a lot of confidence I can play at that level and gave me the hunger to do it more."
Peniston will face Danish second seed Holger Rune or American Maxime Cressy in the second round.
