Youzhny, Baghdatis win Munich openers
Munich, Germany - Third-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny and fourth-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis were among Monday’s first-round winners at the clay-court BMW Open.Youzhny got past Austrian Stefan Koubek 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, while Baghdatis handled Argentine Diego Hartfield 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 at this French Open tune-up.Eighth-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer took out last year’s Munich runner-up Olivier Rochus 6-2, 6-4. Rochus topped his countryman Kristof Vliegen in last year’s rare all-Belgian final.Other Day-1 wins came for Argentine Martin Vassallo
Arguello and Germans Philipp Kohlschreiber and wild card Daniel Brands, who straight-setted former French Open runner-up Martin Verkerk of The Netherlands 7-6 (7-4), 6-3. Verkerk was a finalist here in Munich in 2004.This week’s winner will collect $76,000. The top seed is Germany’s own Tommy Haas, a 2000 Munich finalist.© 2007 The Sports Network