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SAN JOSE, California: Fourth-seeded German Tommy Haas needed a tiebreaker to get past wild card Devin Britton 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) in the first round of the ATP Tour's SAP Open.
"His serve was working really well for him - not only really hard but with good placement and I could not get a good read on it," Haas said.
"Also serving and volleying on second serve and mixing it up, that really surprised me. I played good at the times I needed. The first match is always tough anyway because you never know how you're going to feel."
Sixth-seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber also advanced, downing American Rajeev Ram 6-7 (7/9), 6-1, 6-3, and seventh-seeded American Sam Querrey beat Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-2.
Germany's Bjorn Phau beat eighth-seeded Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 6-1.
American Michael Russell, who played in his first professional tournament two years ago when he was 15, beat lucky loser Im Kyu Tae of Korea 7-6 (8/6), 6-1.
Im got his place in the draw when American Mardy Fish withdrew with a left knee injury.
Fish, who planned to continue playing doubles here with Querrey, had surgery on the knee in September and was able to compete in the Australian Open.
"For whatever reason the knee is not where it needs to be and not 100 per cent," Fish said in a statement.
Top-seeded Andy Roddick, who meets qualifier Ryler DeHeart in his opening match Wednesday, has also battled a sore knee after he was injured in Shanghai last October.
He also had to contend with a sore shoulder in his five-set loss to Marin Cilic in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
"It was a little touch and go for a while about playing here," the world number seven said. "But I got the clearance I needed after the Australian Open. The first match will be telling. If I get through that one I should be OK. I'm going to have to work my way into this tournament."
- AFP/yb
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