Stockholm, Sweden – South African slugger Kevin Anderson five American James Blake were among those posting first-round wins Tuesday at the Stockholm Open.
The fifth-seeded 6-foot-7 Anderson won a pair of tiebreaks to get past Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-4), while Blake bested fellow non-seed Olivier Rochus of Belgium 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 on the indoor hardcourts at Kungliga Tennishallen. Blake captured this event back-to-back in 2005 and 2006.
Anderson will battle wild card and former world No. 2 Tommy Haas of Germany in the second round, while Blake should have his hands full with second-seeded former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina on Wednesday.
Sixth-seeded Canadian slugger Milos Raonic outlasted 2009 Stockholm champion Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (4-7), 6-4 in 2 hours, 22 minutes. The big-serving Raonic clubbed 22 aces and was not broken on Day 2.
In other action involving seeds, No. 7 Ivan Dodig of Croatia topped Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (8-6) and German qualifier Tobias Kamke drubbed eighth-seeded fading Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-2, 6-3.
Additional wins came for Finn Jarkko Nieminen and former top-five star David Nalbandian, who outlasted Belgian Xavier Malisse 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3) in 2 hours, 41 minutes. Malisse swatted 16 aces and recorded more service breaks (4-3) in a losing effort, one in which he squandered a pair of match points.
The gritty Argentine Nalbandian titled here back in 2008.
The winner of this $730,000 event will collect $135,000.
