Stuttgart, Germany – Former world No. 2 Tommy Haas was a come-from-behind winner Tuesday at the Mercedes Cup tennis event.
The eighth-seeded long-time German crowd favorite overcame Russian Igor Andreev 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 on the red clay at TC Weissenhof. Haas was the Stuttgart runner-up back in 1999.
The 34-year-old Haas was a surprise grass-court titlist in Halle here in Germany last month, stunning Wimbledon champ Roger Federer in the finale.
Tuesday upsets came when Czech Lukas Rosol smacked 12 aces and drove out fifth-seeded Dutchman Robin Haase 6-4, 7-5 and Germany's own Cedrik-Marcel Stebe knocked out seventh-seeded Pole Lukasz Kubot 6-2, 0-6, 6-3. Rosol shocked the great Rafael Nadal in a second-round match at Wimbledon two weeks ago.
Additional German wins came for Tobias Kamke and Bjorn Phau, as Kamke defeated Italian Flavio Cipolla 6-3, 6-4 and Phau topped Austrian Martin Fischer 6-3, 6-3.
Other opening-round winners were Frenchmen Jeremy Chardy and Benoit Paire, Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci, and Slovakian qualifier Pavol Cervenak. Chardy, who titled here in 2009, beat German Julian Reister 6-2, 6-4.
In some second-round action here on Wednesday, top-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia will face Belgian Steve Darcis and fourth-seeded Pablo Andujar will battle fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Andujar was last year's Stuttgart runner-up to compatriot Juan Carlos Ferrero, who played in Umag this week.
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