He could not have ushered in the New Year in a better manner. Playing probably the best tennis of his life – barring the marathon final game – unheralded Robin Haase scored a stunning straight sets win over second-seeded Marcos Baghdatis in the opening round of the Chennai Open here.

The gangling Dutchman's 6-3, 6-4 win over the world No 16 at the Nungambakkam Tennis stadium on Tuesday had the small gathering in stunned disbelief. But top-seeded Rafael Nadal infused life back into the $436,000 ATP Tour event with a crushing 6-2, 6-4 victory over Mathieu Montcourt a short while later.

Anxious to close out the match after having called the shots for the better part of the 83-minute encounter, the 6'3'' Haase committed far too many errors on his favoured flank – forehand – in the 10th game of the second set.
Fortunately for him, Baghdatis didn't have the weapons or the game to take advantage in the game that went to deuce nine times. The Cypriot frittered away four break point opportunities, while Haase failed to convert five match points. On the sixth however, the Dutchman sent a huge forehand which Baghdatis could only put it into the net.

"I was lucky Baghdatis was not in the best of form today," said the 20-year-old Haase. But the 114th-ranked player certainly was on the day. Armed with a bazooka serve and a huge forehand, the 20-year-old troubled Baghdatis from the word go.

The second seed knew what Haase was capable of. In Montreal last year, Baghdatis came through a three-set thriller. On Tuesday, the Dutchman was better prepared. To add to the Cypriot's woes, he was not as solid as he would have liked. Blame it on lack of match practice or the two-month break, Haase certainly was not complaining.

Serving big right through, though he had only five aces, Haase forced weak returns from the former Australian Open runner-up. Then he let his whipping forehand do the rest, making winners at will to have Baghdatis gasping.

Struggling to get his first serves in and making silly errors, Haase had a break opportunity in the second game of the opening set. A Baghdatis forehand that sailed wide gave Haase an early break. The Dutchman didn't look back thereafter.

He wrapped up the first set without much ado and broke Baghdatis in the opening game of the second set. Though the forehand winners dried up, Haase kept the pressure on with his serves. Besides, he came up with great drops shots that Baghdatis could only look on from the baseline.

"The drop is one of my favourite shots. I do it all my life," Haase said. He employed the drop shot when Baghdatis had the break opportunities when the Dutch player was serving for the match. It was all over when Baghdatis put a forehand into the net on Haase's sixth match point.

"It was the first match of the season. I just need some time to find my rhythm," Baghdatis said.

Prakash ousted

Meanwhile, in a late night encounter, India's Prakash Amritraj went down fighting to qualifier Alexandre Kudryavtsev of Russia 3-6, 6-4, 6-7 (8-10). The Indian, making a comeback after a wrist surgery, made a brilliant comeback after losing the first set. He even had two match points, but failed to convert both.

Results (I round): Singles: Robin Haase (Ned) bt Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) 6-3, 6-4; Werner Eschauer (Aut) bt Bartolome Salva-Vidal (Esp) 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 6-4; Kristof Vliegen (Bel) bt Marc Gicquel (Fra) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4; Lovro Zovko (Cro) bt Thierry Ascione (Fra) 6-4, 6-0; Rafael Nadal (Esp) bt Mathieu Montcourt (Fra) 6-2, 6-4; Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Esp) bt Alexander Peya (Aut) 6-4, 6-4; Nicolas Mahut (Fra) bt Denis Gremelmayr (Ger) 6-3, 6-3; Rajeev Ram (USA) bt Yuri Schukin (Rus) 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-2); Carlos Moya (Esp) bt Teimuraz Gabashvili (Rus) 6-4, 6-1; Alexandre Kudryavtsev (Rus) bt Prakash Amritraj (Ind) 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (10-8); Marin Cilic (Cro) bt Viktor Troicki (Srb) 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1. Doubles: Igor Kunitsyn (Rus)/ Jim Thomas (USA) bt Xavier Malisse (Bel)/ Gilles Muller (Lux) 7-5, 5-7, 14-12.