Both Berdych and Rosol won singles ties at the weekend as they helped their country into the Davis quarterfinals and a date with Serbia. But Berdych, seeded second, showed his clear superiority in the clash between countrymen.
“I’m satisfied,” the No. 7 said after advancing in an hour and a quarter with 10 aces and three breaks of serve as the pair met for the first time.
“It was indoors but still a tough transition from Davis Cup.
“Our court was much faster with lower bounce. I didn’t really have much time to train here. but I coped with it pretty well. I was able to find my rhythm quite fast and was able to play my game.”
Third seed Juan Del Potro made a winning debut as he played the event for the first time as he put out 2008 champion Michael Llodra 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4.
The Frenchman, ranked 47th, was fighting jet-leg after flying in from France’s 4-1 Davis Cup victory at the weekend over Canada in Vancouver, nine time zones away.
The last member of the elite was going into opening action later, with top seed Roger Federer stepping onto court at the Ahoy stadium for the first time since winning the 2005 title to take on Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.
Del Potro admitted he had trouble closing out victory. “I was nervous in the last game,” said the South American who returned to the ATP Top 10 after reaching an Australian Open quarter-final which he lost to Roger Federer.
“I’m really pleased to have won in my first match here,” he said after advancing in nearly two and a half hours.
In other first round results, Marcos Baghdatis beat German Matthias Bachinger 7-6 (7/2), 6-2 while Russian Alex Bogomolov advanced as Sergiy Stakhovsky quit injured trailing 6-3, 0-1.
Slovak Karol Beck beat Germany’s Philipp Petzschner 7-6 (8/6), 6-3.
Ginepri beats Malisse at SAP Open
In San Jose, California, Robby Ginepri earned just his third ATP Tour match win since 2010 when he easily beat Xavier Malisse 6-1, 6-2 on Tuesday in the opening round of the SAP Open.
Ginepri, still battling back from a serious mountain bike crash, had no trouble at all while dispatching the Belgian in just 56 minutes.
His victory provided some relief for home fans, with Americans scoring three wins against five losses for the day.
Bulgarian qualifier Dimitar Kutrovsky beat Dennis Lajola 6-7 (7), 6-3, 7-6 (3), Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller was a 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Tim Smyczek, Steve Darcis of Belgium defeated Scott Johnson 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) while the all-American clash saw Denis Kudla beat Jack Sock 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3. In another clash of compatriots, Michael Russell beat seventh-seeded Donald Young 6-1, 7-6 (6).
Ginepri was once a rising star in American tennis, winning three titles and making it to No. 15 in the rankings in 2005 when he reached the US Open semifinals. But he has fallen on hard times in recent years after breaking his left elbow when he swerved to avoid a squirrel in September 2010, and dropped to 235th in the world.
He played just six matches all last season and lost in qualifying for the Australian Open last month. He played two Challenger tournaments after that, reaching the final in Honolulu.
Malisse, a semifinalist in San Jose in 2001, is ranked 74th in the world and had lost his previous three matches this year, including at the first round of the Australian Open when he retired after losing the first set against Edouard Roger-Vasselin because of a right arm injury.
Ginepri won 15 of the final 16 points, starting with an ace at break point when it was 2-2 in the second set. He sealed it when Malisse hit a forehand into the net on match point.
Ginepri will play either eighth-seeded Olivier Rochus of Belgium or compatriot Ryan Harrison in the second round.
Sock, who teamed with John McEnroe to win a doubles exhibition on Monday, had a short stay in the singles draw. He had his serve broken by Kudla in the opening game of the match for the only break in the first set. Neither player lost serve in the second set before Sock rallied from 5-2 down in the tiebreaker to force a third set.
