Andreev battles into round two

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:24

Moroccan home favourite Chaki is ranked a lowly 482 by the ATP but he gave his Russian opponent an almighty scare.

Andreev, the world number 22, fell a set behind before easing back on level terms, but in a match in which he was broken three times he was taken to the wire by Chaki before winning 3-6 6-3 7-5.

German second seed Rainer Schuettler was the biggest casualty on the opening day when he was surprisingly dispatched by Spanish qualifier Ruben Hidalgo 6-4 7-6.

Belgium’s seventh seed Christophe Rochus was another seed to fall as he suffered a comprehensive defeat at the hands of Juan Carlos Ferrero.

The Spanish former world number one broke his opponent five times on the way to a 6-2 6-3 victory on court two.

All the other seeds in action today made safe progress, with Marc Gicquel beating Kristof Vliegen 7-5 6-3 and third-ranked Albert Montanes – who won the doubles title last year – seeing off home player Reda El Amrani 6-2 7-5.

Nicolas Devilder, Mischa Zverev, Potito Starace, Olivier Rochus and Teimuraz Gabashvili also won through to the second round.

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