Del Potro overcomes nerves to close out winning Rotterdam debut

By Bill Scott Feb 15, 2012, 16:46 GMT

Rotterdam, Netherlands - Jittery Argentine Juan Del Potro made a winning debut at the ABN-AMRO World Tennis on Wednesday, with the third seed moving into the second round with a defeat of Michael Llodra 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4.

Del Potro, playing in the Netherlands for the first time on the ATP admitted it was tough to claim victory.

'I was nervous in the final game,' said the third seed whose ranking is back in the Top 10 for the first time since his 2010 wrist injury and subsequent surgery. 'But I steadied to serve it out.'

The South American will next face Slovak Karol Beck, who had the better of one of the day's two German losers as he beat Davis Cup player Philipp Petzschner 7-6 (8-6), 6-3. Unseeded Marcos Baghdatis beat Matthias Bachinger of Germany in their first-round encounter 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.

Llodra came to the court somewhat drained after flying in from Vancouver in Canada's far west after a weekend Davis Cup victory for France over the home side. The 31-year-old ranked 47th won the Rotterdam title four years ago when he beat Swede Robin Soderling.

Second seed Tomas Berdych moved ahead with a defeat of Czech Davis Cup teammate Lukas Rosol 6-4, 6-2. Top seeded Roger Federer was opening against France's Nicolas Mahut as the Swiss tries to reverse a run of defeats in his last three matches - and Australian Open semi-final and two Davis Cup rubbers last weekend against the US.

Ironically, Federer's last opponent was American John Isner, who beat upcoming opponent Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set of the longest match ever played, at Wimbledon two years ago.

Berdych had joined Rosol in defeating Italy in Davis Cup but it was each to his own when the ATP hostilities began at the Ahoy stadium.

'I'm satisfied,' said seventh-ranked Berdych, an Australian Open quarter-finalist against Rafael Nadal and winner of the indoor Montpellier title 10 days ago.

'This was a tough transition from Davis Cup. Our court last weekend was much faster. I coped with it pretty well. I was able to find my rhythm quite fast and was able to play my game.'

The Czech who reached the 2010 Wimbledon final said that he is pleased so far with his season after the first month or so.

'My main goal is to win tournaments and get good results in Grand Slams,' he said after moving into a match with Baghdatis, 'I've had a solid start, I added another title, so I'm pleased.

'But the season is long and I'm looking forward to the Slams and the Olympics as well.'

Finland's Jarkko Nieminen was the first into the quarter-finals through his defeat of Pole Lukasz Kubot, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-2) with the winner to play the man who emerges from the Federer-Mahut clash.