In the first round matches Baghdatis played solid tennis to score a 6-3, 6-1 win over Ukraine’s Sergei Bubka, while the fourth seed Rochus had no trouble in disposing off another Ukrainian Ivan Sergeyev 6-2, 6-1 in less than a hour.
In the second round Baghdatis will take on Evgeny Kirillov of Russia who accounted for Uzbek wildcard Vaja Uzakov 6-1, 7-5, while Rochus will play qualifier Andrei Gorban of Maldova who outplayed Michail Elgin of Russia 6-1, 6-4 in his opening match.
“I’m playing good and had a fast match, I like the courts here”, said Rochus after his match. Russian player Alexandre Kudryavtsev scored a easy 6-3, 6-3 win over Latvian Deniss Pavlovs to make it to the second round, Kudryavtsev will clash with sixth seeded Somdev Devvarman.
Yuri Schukin of Kazakhstan also had an easy passage scoring a 6-4, 6-2 win over Uzbek wild card Murad Inoyatov.
It was also a lucky day for Uzbek lucky loser Arsen Asanov who replaced German Benedikt Dorsch , Asanov who lost in the final rounds of the qualifying scored an impressive 6-4,1-6, 6-3 win over wild card entrant and country mate Rifat Biktyakov to make it to the second round.
Following are the results (First Round)
S.4 Christophe Rochus ( Bel) bt Ivan Sergeyev (Ukr) 6-2, 6-1.
Alexandre Kudraytsev( Rus) bt Deniss Pavlovs(Lat) 6-,6-3
S.3 Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) Sergei Bubka (Ukr) 6-1,6-3
Evgeny Kirillov(Rus) bt Vaja Uzakov (Uzb) 6-1,7-5
Andrei Gorban (Mda) bt Michail Elgin(Rus) 6-1,6-4
Konstantin Kravchuk (Rus) bt Sarvar Ikramov ( Uzb) 7-6(3),6-3
Andrey Kumantsov ( Rus) bt Jiri Krkoska (Cze) 7-6(0),7-5
Arsen Asanov (Uzb) bt Rifat Biktyakov ( Uzb) 6-4,1-6,6-3
Yuri Schukin ( Kaz) bt Murad Inoyatov ( Uzb) 6-4,6-2