Australia’s Bernard Tomic opened his 2015 grass-court season with a straight-sets victory in Stuttgart on Tuesday, while Marcos Baghdatis set up a second-round clash with Rafael Nadal.
Tomic, the fifth seed at the ATP tournament in Stuttgart, enjoyed a 6-3, 7-6 win over Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff.
The 22-year-old Australian, who reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in 2011, converted three of his five break points for victory in 71 minutes.
“It’s very exciting for me to be back here,” said Tomic, who was born in Stuttgart before his family immigrated to Australia.
“My first match on grass was pretty good. I served and returned well in the first set.
“It’s all about finding your movement on the grass in the first match and I felt like it was pretty solid.”
He will face former world No 2 Tommy Haas of Germany in the second round.
Fourteen-time grand slam title winner Nadal will be looking to kick-start his season after dropping to 10th in the latest world rankings – his worst position in more than a decade.
Having lost to world No 1 Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals of the French Open last week, it is the 29-year-old Spaniard’s lowest ranking since reaching 11th as a teenager in April 2005.
Having had a bye to the second round, Nadal will play Baghdatis after the Cypriot beat Lukas Rosol 6-3, 6-4 in their first-round clash, with the Cypriot looking to add to his lone win over Nadal from five years ago in Cincinnati.
In other action on Tuesday, at the Nottingham Open in England, top seed Agnieszka Radwanska made comfortable progress into the second round.
The 26-year-old Pole dropped just three games against Russia’s Alla Kudryavtseva 6-0, 6-3 to advance.
Joining her was Britain’s Johanna Konta, who gave the home fans reason to celebrate with a 6-3, 6-3 win over seventh seed Magdalena Rybarikova.
Katy Dunne was unable to follow suit, though, with Konta’s compatriot losing 6-1, 6-2 to Olga Govortsova.
Monica Puig went through beating Lucie Hradecka 7-6, 7-6, with Christina McHale also going through as she got the better of Jarmila Gajdosova 6-4, 6-3.
Second-seeded Zarina Diyas dumped out Francesca Schiavone 7-6, 7-6, while there were also victories for Sophia Vickery, Magda Linette and Casey Dellacqua.
Third seed Varvara Lepchenko bowed out, though, beaten 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 by Monica Niculescu of Romania.
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