CHENNAI, India(AP) Marin Cilic of Croatia and Rainer Schuettler of Germany advanced to the second round of the season-opening Chennai Open on Monday.
The third-seeded Cilic needed only one break in each set to beat Alberto Martin of Spain 6-4, 6-4, and fifth-seeded Schuettler held on to beat Indian wild card Prakash Amritraj 6-2, 4-6, 6-1.
It's always nice to get the first match of the year out of the way,'' said the 20-year-old Cilic, a semifinalist at last year's Chennai Open.What helped me was that I broke him early in both sets, because he then had to play catch-up after that.''
Cilic won his first career ATP title last year in New Haven, Conn.
Schuettler, a finalist at the 1999 Chennai Open, broke Amritraj in the sixth and eighth games of the first set, but the 25-year-old Indian rebounded by winning the second set with a break in the third game.
Prakash deserved to win the second set,'' said the 32-year-old Schuettler.I definitely need to pick up my game. It's not always smooth to get back competitive tennis after two months.''
The Los Angeles-born Amritraj, whose tennis-playing father Vijay Amritraj moved from Chennai to California several decades ago, was back in the southern Indian city amid a debate over the government's recent decision to ban foreign-passport holders from representing the country in international events.
Amritraj, who holds a U.S. passport, has been a regular member of India's Davis Cup squad since 2003, but will now be affected by the Indian sports ministry's order.
Amritraj said he ``won't comment on the issue at this stage.''
Besides Schuettler, German players Simon Greul and Bjorn Phau also advanced. Greul beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain 6-3, 6-4 and Phau defeated Santiago Ventura of Spain 6-2, 7-5.