German player Matthias Bachinger advances into 2nd round of Chennai Open

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHENNAI, India — Matthias Bachinger of Germany upset seventh-seeded Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 Tuesday at the Chennai Open.

Bachinger needed a little more than two hours to stave off a spirited rally from 2010 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Lu in a baseline slugfest that turned out to be the highlight of a day that also featured fifth-seeded Benoit Paire of France, German qualifier Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, Roberto Bautista Augut of Spain and the Indian duo of Prakash Amritraj and Somdev Devvarman moving into the second round.

No. 6-ranked Czech Tomas Berdych and ninth-ranked Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia are among four players to have received first-round byes and will play Wednesday.

The match between Bachinger and Lu saw long rallies with Bachinger getting the vital break in the 10th game to go a set up.

Lu came back strongly in the second and raised his game to counter the 123rd-ranked German’s power game, securing an early break in the fourth game to surge ahead and clinch the set.

But in the decider, the little-known German broke in the fifth game and held to go up 4-2 before playing out the match.

“I’m happy as it has been a good start and since he has been playing good in Asia,” Bachinger said. “The playing conditions here are a bit tough. I usually practice in Europe where it’s cold while it’s humid here.”

Also, German qualifier Cedrik-Marcel Stebe disposed of 68th-ranked Dutchman Igor Sijsling 6-4, 6-4.

The left-handed Stebe, who has enjoyed moderate success on the ATP tour and posted first-round wins in the French Open and U.S. Open, played confidently against a rival ranked more than 100 places above him.

Amritraj, son of former Indian Davis Cup player Vijay Amritraj, continued his form in the qualifying tournament by rallying from one set down to beat Frenchman Guillaume Rufin 6-7, 6-2, 6-3 to set up a clash with eight-seeded Japanese Go Soeda.

Amritraj said he tried too hard in the first set before finding his rhythm in the second.

“I had not touched the racket for almost two years and I began playing again exactly 108 days ago,” Amritraj said. “Chennai is like a second home to me and I’m happy to win here.”

Devvarman, who is finding his way back from an injury-ravaged year, eased past Czech journeyman Jan Hajek 6-3, 6-3 to set up a second-round meeting with the top-seeded Berdych.

In other matches, Paire eased past Italy’s Flavio Cipolla 6-3, 6-4, while Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain defeated Slovakian Blaz Kavcic 7-6, 6-2.

Israel’s Dudi Sela and Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky also advanced to the round of 16.

13:39ET 01-01-13