Haase, Soeda advance at Chennai Open
Robin Haase and Go Soeda reached the second round of Chennai Open with straight-set wins.
Sixth-seeded Dutchman Robin Haase and eighth-seeded Go Soeda of Japan progressed to the second round of the Chennai Open with straight-set wins on Monday.
Haase overcame the challenge of local wild card Yuki Bhambri 7-5, 6-3 while last year s semifinalist Soeda defeated unheralded Russian Evegeny Donskoy 6-1, 6-2.
Haase, a two-time quarterfinalist here, won 78 per cent of his first serves and saved all four break points he faced.
The 25-year-old Haase returned to winning ways after finishing last season with a run of seven straight defeats. He will now face Slovenia s Aljaz Bedene in the round of 16.
"I was nervous at the beginning of the match but managed to stay with him," Bhambri said. "I also had opportunities and if I had taken them, the score could have been different. It was a good match against a top-50 player and it would have been incredible if I had won."
In the other match involving a seeded player, Soeda cruised as his opponent struggled to adjust to the conditions.
"This was a good start to the year, last year too this was a good tourney for me," Soeda said. "The performance gave me a lot of confidence as I d reached the semifinals.
"I trained a lot during the off-season and that helped me move well on court."
In other matches, Frenchman Eduardo Roger-Vasselin defeated Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 6-4 and Aljaze Bedene of Slovenia knocked out Portugal s Joao Sousa 6-3, 6-2.
Meanwhile, the four qualifiers advancing to the main draw were Rubens Bemmelmans of Belgium, Cedrik-Marcel Steebe of Germany, Rajeev Ram of the United States and Prakash Amritraj of India.
