MADRAS, India, Dec 31: Swedish second seed Thomas Johansson overcame a hesitant start to beat big-hitting Swiss Ivo Heuberger 6-4 6-4 in the first round of the Indian Open Monday.

Johansson struggled with his serve in windy conditions before finding the range on his ground strokes to go through to the second round.

Fourth seed Andrei Pavel of Romania needed just over an hour to power his way past Costa Rica’s Juan Antonio Marin 6-3 6-2.

Slovak sixth seed Dominik Hrbaty opened his campaign with a comfortable 6-1 6-4 win over German Axel Pretzsch while 2001 runner-up Andrei Stoliarov of Russia beat the local favourite and Indian number one Leander Paes 6-3 6-1.

Argentina’s top seed Guillermo Canas was due to play his opening match Tuesday.

First round results: 2-Thomas Johansson (Sweden) beat Ivo Heuberger (Switzerland) 6-4 6-4; 4-Andrei Pavel (Romania) beat Juan Antonio Marin (Costa Rica) 6-3 6-2; Olivier Rochus (Belgium) beat Martin Lee (Britain) 6-4 6-3; 6-Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) beat Axel Pretzsch 6-1 6-4; Alex Calatrava (Spain) beat Ota Fukarek (Czech Republic) 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 6-4; Andrei Stoliarov (Russia) beat Leander Paes (India) 6-3 6-1—Reuters