Baghdatis, Gasquet advance to second round of Sydney International

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Baghdatis, Gasquet advance in Sydney

SYDNEY — Former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis beat local wild-card entry Nick Lindhal 6-2, 7-5 on Monday to reach the second round of the Sydney International, a key warmup tournament for the season’s first major.

Baghdatis, the Cypriot who lost the 2006 Australian final to Roger Federer, only got a third of his first serves into play, but was only broken once in the match and broke Lindhal’s serve twice in each set.

In other first-round matches, Frenchman Richard Gasquet beat Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 6-4; Potito Starace of Italy edged Frederico Gil of Portugal 6-1, 6-4; Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas held off Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-2, 7-6 (1); and Italy’s Andreas Seppi defeated Australia’s Marinko Matosevic 6-4, 6-4.

“It’s for sure a good start, because Lopez is a great player, and he has a great serve,” Gasquet said. “I played well last year with semifinal in this tournament, so I’m happy to be there and to win the first match.”

In women’s play, seventh-seeded Jelena Jankovic went out in a 5-7, 6-1, 7-5 first-round loss to Hungary’s Agnes Szavay, while Elena Vesnina advanced when fellow Russian and eighth-seeded Vera Zvonareva retired at 3-3 in the first set.

Flavia Pennetta, who lost the final at Auckland on the weekend to Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium, beat Australia’s Hopman Cup representative Samantha Stosur 6-3, 6-1; Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska topped American Jill Craybas 6-0, 6-4; and Aravane Rezai of France beat Anna-Lena Gronefeld of Germany 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2.