BANGKOK (AP) — Marat Safin of Russia defeated fifth-seeded Philipp Petzschner of Germany 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 Tuesday in the opening round of the Thailand Open.
Safin avenged a loss to Petzchner in the opening round last year. Safin dominated with his booming baseline game. Safin is playing his fourth and final Thailand Open. He plans to retire at the end of the year.
"It was quite a pleasant win for me," Safin said.
Evgeny Korolev of Russia rallied from two match points down to defeat Fabrice Santoro of France 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7). Santoro also plans to retire after the season.
In the other first round matches, Andreas Beck of Germany beat Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France 7-5, 7-6 (1); sixth-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria stopped Marcos Daniel of Brazil 6-3, 6-2; Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland defeated qualifier Florian Mayer of Germany 6-3, 6-3; Ernests Gulbis of Latvia stopped wild-card Somdev Devvarman of India 7-6 (7), 6-2.
Third-seeded Sam Querrey of the United States was forced to withdraw after injuring his right arm in an accident on Monday night, when he sat on a glass table and fell through. The injury required surgery.
