Third seed Tomas Berdych cured his jet-lag with a brisk 50-minute workout for an opening win over local wild-card Kittipong Wachi-ramanowong at the Thailand Open yesterday.
The Czech who arrived a day earlier from a Davis Cup win at home against the Roger Federer-led Swiss, admitted that his brief 6-3, 6-0 workout was precisely the tonic after a long flight.
"I just landed on Tuesday morning and it was a tough week for me at the Davis Cup," the Bangkok debutant said. "This match was an OK way to start. But I certainly want to improve in the next rounds."
The unranked 17-year-old Wachiramanowong is a future Thai hope making his ATP tournament debut. He played on the Davis Cup team beaten 5-0 by Japan.
Berdych improved to 38-19 in the season in which he won the title at Halle and made semi-finals in Monte Carlo and Munich.
Day two of the event at the Impact arena was marked by the absence of the Swedish contingent, with non-related Davis Cup players Thomas Johansson and Joachim Johansson failing to front up.
ATP officials said Joachim was suffering fatigue while Thomas had a back injury.
The event was been hit by pullouts by top players including world numbers two and three Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic plus South Korean Lee Hyung-taik, the top Asian on the ATP.
Spain's Fernando Verdasco, seeded eighth, emerged a survivor after compatriots Carlos Moya, seeded fifth, and Feliciano Lopez both lost in the first round on Tuesday.
Verdasco beat American David Martin, ranked outside the top 500, by a 6-2, 6-1 scoreline.
Australian unknown Nick Lindahl put out Sam Querrey 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 holding the big-hitting American to eight aces and breaking him three times in just under 90 minutes.
Russian Igor Kunitsyn ousted veteran George Bastl 6-3, 6-4 as the Swiss took Djokovic's place in the draw.
Russian fourth seed Maria Kirilenko cruised into the second round of the Korea Open yesterday with a straight sets 7-5, 6-3 mauling of local hope Kim So-jung.
"It was difficult for me to play here today in my first match because last week I played indoors and here it was outdoors and it was hot," said Kirilenko, who won her second singles title at the Sunfeast Open in Kolkata on Sunday.
"It was tough the first set anyway," added the world No. 35, who joins top seed Venus Willaims in the next round.
Williams eased into the second round by beating American qualifier Abigail Spears 6-2, 6-3 on Tuesday.
The 27-year-old next faces Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn, who rallied from a set down to eliminate Australia's Casey Dellacqua 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.
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