Robin Haase
CHENNAI, India – Top-seeded Rafael Nadal beat Mathieu Montcourt 6-2, 6-4 Tuesday in the first round of the Chennai Open, and second-seeded Marcos Baghdatis lost to Robin Haase 6-3, 6-4.
Serving at 5-2 in the second set, Nadal wasted four match points and the 123rd-ranked Montcourt won the game but the Frenchman was too inconsistent to pose any threat.
Nadal regretted Baghdatis’ early exit.
"His defeat takes something out of the tournament," the Spaniard said.
Baghdatis, ranked 16th, made several unforced errors against his 114th-ranked Dutch opponent and dropped service early in both sets. Haase was tested only in the 10th game of the second set that he clinched after Baghdatis saved five match points.
"Things simply didn’t go well for me," said Baghdatis, who dropped serve in the second game of the opening set and the first game of the second set.
"I made a lot of mistakes, wasn’t solid at the baseline and gave away too many easy points," Baghdatis added. "Things are never easy when you haven’t played a match for two months, and suddenly you are required to hit winners."
Baghdatis also went out in the first round of the Chennai Open in his only previous appearance three years ago.
Haase served for the match at 5-4 in the second set but deuce was called 10 times before Baghdatis sent a forehand crosscourt into the net.
"I was lucky that Marcos was not in his best form at the start of the season," Haase said.
Eighth-seeded Marc Gicquel of France also went out, losing to Belgium’s Kristof Vliegen 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Third-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain advanced by outplaying Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-4, 6-1, and seventh-seeded Werner Eschauer of Austria defeated Bartolome Salva-Vidal of Spain 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-4.
American Rajeev Ram beat Yuri Schukin of Russia 7-6 (6), 7-6 (2) and Lovro Zovko of Croatia knocked out Thierry Ascione of France 6-4, 6-0.
Source: Haase upsets Baghdatis in India
