Tue Sep 23 13:55:23 2008

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Soderling rolls; Safin falls in Bangkok

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Bangkok, Thailand (Sports Network) - Sixth-seeded Swede Robin Soderling posted a Day-1 win, while Wimbledon semifinalist Marat Safin of Russia came up a loser Tuesday at the $576,000 Thailand Open.

Soderling subdued qualifier Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan 6-2, 6-4 with the help of 14 aces, while a seventh-seeded Safin gave way to German Philipp Petzschner 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) on the hardcourts at Impact Arena. The struggling Safin, seeking his 400th career match win, is a former world No. 1 and two- time major champ.

American Robert Kendrick got past Swiss qualifier George Bastl 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), while Czech qualifier Lukas Dlouhy downed last year's Bangkok runner-up Benjamin Becker 6-4, 7-6 (7-4). The German Becker gave way to Russian Dmitry Tursunov in last year's title match here.

Additional wins came for Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, German qualifier Simon Stadler and Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili. Mahut dismissed wild card and heavy Thai crowd favorite Danai Udomchoke 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2 in Tuesday's singles nightcap.

The top seeds here are Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Aussie Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France. Djokovic will meet Stadler in a second-rounder here on Thursday, while Tsonga will tangle with Dlouhy on Wednesday.

This week's champion will pocket $94,000.