SYDNEY (AP)—Former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis beat local wild-card entry Nick Lindhal 6-2, 7-5 on Monday to reach the second round of the Sydney International, a key warmup tournament for the season's first major.
Baghdatis, the Cypriot who lost the 2006 Australian final to Roger Federer, only got a third of his first serves into play, but was only broken once in the match and broke Lindhal's serve twice in each set.
In other first-round matches, Frenchman Richard Gasquet beat Spain's Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 6-4; Potito Starace of Italy edged Frederico Gil of Portugal 6-1, 6-4; Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas held off Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-2, 7-6 (1); and Italy's Andreas Seppi defeated Australia's Marinko Matosevic 6-4, 6-4.