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GENEVA (AP) — Two-time Swiss Open champion Thomaz Bellucci ousted seventh-seeded Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of the Geneva Open on Monday.
Bellucci, a left-hander from Brazil, carried over the form which saw him push Novak Djokovic to three sets at the Italian Open last week.
After wasting a 5-2 lead in the first set, 60th-ranked Bellucci held serve the rest of the way on his favored clay-court surface.
Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, who followed Bellucci as champion at Gstaad in 2013, beat Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5), getting just his sixth tour win this year.
Another Russian, Andrey Kuznetsov, beat fifth-seeded Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria 6-2, 6-4, while sixth-seeded Joao Sousa of Portugal defeated his near-namesake Joao Souza of Brazil 7-5, 6-3.
Sousa next plays Austrian Jurgen Melzer, who beat Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina 6-2, 6-3. Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain beat Marinko Matosevic of Australia 7-6 (2), 6-2.
The Geneva Open is debuting on the ATP tour after replacing an event in Duesseldorf, Germany.
Top-seeded Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland has a bye into the second round.
Second-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia, the U.S. Open champion, plays in the featured match Tuesday against 17-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev, the 2014 French Open junior singles winner.
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