No. 3 Cilic, No. 5 Schuettler, No. 8 Granollers advance to second round in India

No surprises occurred on opening day at the Chennai Open in India, as third-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic (pictured) and fifth-seeded German Rainer Schuettler started their 2009 season off on the right note as they both advanced to the second round. Spaniard Marcel Granollers also advanced on Monday.

Cilic, winner of his first career title last year in New Haven, battled his way past steady Spaniard veteran Alberto Martin, winning, 6-4, 6-4, in just over 90 minutes. Cilic, who reached the semifinals in Chennai last year by playing his way through the qualifying tournament, won 27 of 35 first serve points, while breaking the Spaniards serve once in each set. In the next round, Cilic will face either Denis Istomin or a qualifier.

Schuettler, a Wimbledon semifinalist last year, fought past a tough first round test in wild card entrant Prakash Amritraj, winning, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, in 84 minutes. The German veteran who has played in Chennai eight times previously, had a solid serving performance, winning 76 percent of first serve points, while losing only eight points on his second serve. The 32-year-old was able to break serve on four of five chances, while Amritraj could only manage to break once. Schuettler next faces Simon Greul, who defeated Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 6-3, 6-4, in 67 minutes.

The singles champion at last spring’s U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston by defeating James Blake, Granollers grinded out a, 6-4, 7-5, victory over Korea’s Hyung-Taik Lee in just under two hours, to set up a potential second round match against German Andreas Beck or Croatian Roko Karanusic. Granollers fired seven aces past his veteran opponent, while breaking serve on four occasions.

Israeli Dudi Sela and German Bjorn Phau also advanced to the second round. Sela, who put together spectacular results at the end of the 2008 season, had trouble all match against Spaniard Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, but walked away victorious, winning, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-1. Sela smashed four aces compared to one double fault, while breaking serve six times in the two hour and 24 minute battle. Phau cruised past clay court journeyman Santiago Ventura, 6-2, 7-5. Phau dropped only eight points on his first serve and broke serve five different times.