Bucharest, Romania – Seventh seed Lukasz Kubot was a first- round winner Monday at the $522,500 BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy tennis event.
The Polish Kubot whipped Romanian wild card Gabriel Moraru 6-2, 6-3, while a mild opening-round upset came when Italian Potito Starace stifled ninth-seeded Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-0 on BNR Arenas.
Meanwhile, German Matthias Bachinger came back to best Italian Filippo Volandri 3-6, 6-1, 6-3. Volandri was a finalist here back in 2006.
German Florian Mayer topped Spaniard Pablo Andujar in last year's finale here. Andujar was also the Bucharest runner-up in 2010.
This week's top seeds are two-time champion Gilles Simon and Mayer.
The 2012 Bucharest titlist will pocket $95,000.
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