Seventh-seeded Dolgopolov dropped the first set before coming back to beat Robin Haase of Netherlands 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4. Dolgopolov was the only seeded player to hit the courts on the opening day of the tournament.

Earlier, 2008 Halle finalist Philipp Kohlschreiber disposed of fellow German Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

The 20-year-old Stebe was playing his fourth match in four days after going through the qualification stage but Kohlschreiber — ranked 164 places above of Stebe at No. 49 — knew his young compatriot would be extra motivated against him.

“Every match is the same motivation for me. But for him it would have been a great image boost if he could have beaten me. The young guys are always monster motivated, so I have to watch out,” Kohlschreiber said.

Kohlschreiber did not play any tennis for an entire week after bowing out in the first round of the French Open against Sam Querrey of the US “I had one week of no tennis. I practiced a lot, maybe too much. But things have gone well here. I have good memories of Halle, not just from the final,” said Kohlschreiber, who lost the 2008 final to Roger Federer.

The other showdown of two local hopefuls did not last long as Tobias Kamke reached the second round when Julian Reister retired at 4-3 in the first set with a right shoulder injury.

In the other action, Igor Andreev of Russia beat Potito Starace of Italy 6-4, 6-4, while Jan Hernych of Czech Republic battled past Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (8).

Ivan Dodig of Croatia fended off Spain's Pere Riba and Yen-hsun Lu of Taiwan pushed past Jarkko Nieminen of Finland - both players winning in straight sets .