China Open – Berdych, Ferrero and Ljubicic through

Written by: Resendiz on 5th October 2011

China Open – Berdych, Ferrero and Ljubicic through

Czech Republic's Tomas Berdych in action against Austria's Jurgen Melzer during their men's singles tennis match at the China Open tennis tournament held at the National Stadium court in Beijing, China on 04 October 2011. EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG |

Czech Tomas Berdych defeated Austrian Jurgen Melzer 7-5 7-5 in the first round on Monday at the China Open in Beijing.

Berdych faced three break points but didn’t allow Melzer to win any of them. Instead the number one Czech player broke Melzer twice in the match. He now faces Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in the second round. The German took out Tommy Robredo on Tuesday in two sets.

Former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero started off very well against Brazilian Thomasz Bellucci, The Spaniard dominated the first set and won 6-1. Bellucci came back in the second set and forced Ferrero into a tiebreak. Ferrero closed the match by winning the tiebreaker 8-6. Ferrero will now play Marcel Granollers of Spain who crushed the number six seed Gilles Simon. Despite yesterday’s loss the Frenchman is still in the running to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. Granollers won 6-3 6-1 and the straight set match lasted for just over one hour.

Croat Ivan Ljubicic booked a second round spot after beating World No. 128 Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia 7-5 7-5. Gabashvili replaced American John Isner who suffers from a pulled stomach muscle. The big serving Croat was the finalist in Metz two weeks ago. He is looking to win his first title of the season this week. His won his last trophy in Indian Wells in March in 2010.

Ivan Ljubicic will have to get ready to face Germany’s Florian Mayer in the next round. Mayer was too good for Spanish qualifier Albert Ramos yesterday.

Greg Zemlja replaced the number two seed Gael Monfils in the draw yesterday. Monfils pulled out with a knee problem. Zemlja faced Fabio Fognini of Italy in the first round. The Italian went trough to the second round winning in two sets 6-4 6-1.