Becker stuns No. 5 Wawrinka after being down two match points in Switzerland

German qualifier Benjamin Becker (pictured) stunned No. 5 seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basel on Monday after being down two match points at 5-6 in the final set. The former Baylor University student-athlete who is best known for beating Andre Agassi at the US Open in his final professional tennis match, hurt the Swiss stars chances at securing one of the final three spots at the year-end Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai. Wawrinka will most likely have to win next weeks Masters Series Paris event if he wants to secure a spot in Shanghai.

Becker fired 10 aces and won 74 percent of his first serve points, while Wawrinka hammered nine aces and won 65 percent of his first serve points. Wawrinka, the recent Beijing Olympics gold medal winner in doubles with Roger Federer, won four more points than Becker and broke serve five times compared to four times by Becker, but it was the German player who was more stable on the crucial points. Becker, who started the season ranked No. 81 but has since dropped to No. 137 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings earned just his first victory since beating Kristian Pless in Indianapolis in July before losing to eventual champion Gilles Simon. Becker improves to 10-19 on the season and will next face lucky loser Andreas Beck or Nicolas Devilder in the second round.

Other winners on opening day in Basel included newly married American Mardy Fish, Igor Andreev and Feliciano Lopez. No. 8 seeded Fish beat Argentine Agustin Calleri, 7-6(5), 6-2, in 89 minutes. Fish struck nine aces and only two double faults, while losing only three points on his first serve throughout the match. Fish was able to break serve twice while Calleri couldn’t convert on his two break point opportunities. No. 6 seeded Andreev who skipped his countries tournament this week in St. Petersburg to play in Basel, came away with a confidence building victory over respected Austrian star Jurgen Melzer, 7-6(5), 7-5, in just over an hour and a half. Andreev, who improved to 32-22 on the season, smashed 11 aces while saving all five break points he faced. Next up for Andreev in the second round is either Denis Gremelmayr or Philipp Kohlschreiber. Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, who had a strong performance last week in Madrid, pulled out a, 7-6(5), 7-6(7), victory over hometown wild card entrant Marco Chiudinelli in two hours and five minutes. Lopez won 39 out of 49 first serve points, while smashing 15 aces in the tight two set battle. Lopez next meets Fish for a place in the quarterfinals.