Tomas Berdych brought up his 499th career win on Tuesday beating Jeremy Chardy 7-6(2), 6-4 in the first round of ATP Dubai Open.
Berdych withstood 12 aces to break Chardy three times and claim victory in one hour and 33 minutes. “I made it complicated a bit more than usual,” admitted Berdych.
“But it’s important that I won the last point of the match and got through it. Not every day is going to be perfect. It was a solid day to make.”
Andy Murray had a chequered, but foundation-laying 6-4, 7-5 win over Gilles Muller to begin his bid.
Top seed Novak Djokovic played well within himself to beat Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-4.
Important results (First round): At Dubai: Dubai Open: Andy Murray bt Gilles Muller 6-4, 7-5; Borna Coric bt Malek Jaziri 5-7, 6-3, 6-3; Feliciano Lopez bt James Ward 6-4, 6-4; Roberto Bautista Agut bt Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-2; Andy Murray bt Gilles Muller 6-4, 7-5; Marcos Baghdatis bt David Goffin 6-2, 7-5; Tomas Berdych bt Jeremy Chardy 7-6(2), 6-4; Sergiy Stakhovsky bt Lukas Rosol 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; Richard Gasquet bt Andreas Seppi 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-4; Novak Djokovic bt Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-4.
At Buenos Aires: Argentina Open: Paolo Lorenzi bt Thomaz Belluci 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1; Leonardo Mayer bt Stephane Robert 6-0, 6-1; Juan Monaco bt Maximo Gonzalez 6-2, 6-2.
At Acapulco: Mexico Open:Men: Alexandr Dolgopolov bt Samuel Groth 6-3, 4-6, 6-0; Kevin Anderson bt Dustin Brown 6-1, 6-2; Benjamin Becker bt Tobias Kamke 7-6(4), 6-2; Marinko Matosevic bt Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-2. Women: Maria Sharapova bt Shelby Rogers 6-4, 6-1; Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor bt Madison Brengle 2-6, 7-5, 7-5; Bethanie Mattek-Sands bt Marcela Zacarias 6-2, 6-1.
At Doha: Qatar Open: Jelena Jankovic bt Saisai Zheng 6-0, 6-2; Lucie Safarova bt Samantha Stosur 7-6(3), 6-4; Flavia Pennetta bt Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 6-4, 6-2; Carla Suarez Navarro bt Garbine Muguruza 6-5 retired; Andrea Petkovic bt Kirsten Flipkens 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2. Doubles: Sania Mirza & Su Weih Hseih bt Arantxa Parra Santonja & Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-2, 6-1.