Shanghai, Sept 24: Top seed Jiri Novak made short work of his opponent and wild card Guillermo Canas was also among the first round winners at the Shanghai Open.
Novak played a key role last week in guiding Czech Republic to victory over Thailand in the Davis Cup and the 28-year-old did not hang around with a 6-2 7-6 (7/5) win against Dennis Van Scheppingen yesterday.
The Czech faces Robert Kendrick next after the young American survived three tie-breaks with German qualifier Bjorn Phau for a spot in the second round.
Kendrick's 6-7 (4/7) 7-6 (7/3) 7-6 (7/5) win snapped a six-match losing streak in ATP events. Canas, the Argentine playing for only the second time since sustaining a wrist injury in January, fought through a pair of tie-breaks to defeat qualifier Alex Kim, 7-6 (8/6) 7-6 (7/0).

The Argentine, who was close to the ATP top ten in 2002, will take on Eric Taino in the second round after the American upset number six seed Hyung-Taik Lee, 6-3 7-6 (7/4).



Lee was coming off a solid week in Seoul where he won the Challenger event in his native country but faltered against Taino, who won his fifth ATP match this year.


Bureau Report