Dutch first seed Jesse Huta Galung accounted for the Ukrainian wildcard Sergei Bubka 6-4, 6-0, whereas second-ranked Slovakian Lukas Lacko took three sets to beat Spaniard Adrian Menendez-Maceiras 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Five of the eight slated seeds in the men’s singles qualifying draw safely made it through the first round on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s second-phase matches.
Dutch first seed Jesse Huta Galung accounted for the Ukrainian wildcard Sergei Bubka 6-4, 6-0, whereas second-ranked Slovakian Lukas Lacko took three sets to beat Spaniard Adrian Menendez-Maceiras 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Peter Gojowczyk, the third seed from Poland, was the biggest casualty to fall as he lost out to the Swiss Marco Chiudinelli 6-3, 6-3.
Fourth-ranked Blaz Kavcic, of Slovenia, pulled out of the fray and his place in the fold was taken by Novak Djokovic’s doubles partner here, Carlos Gomez-Herrera, who pushed Greek Theodoros Angelinos all the way in a third-set, tie-break defeat (6-7, 6-1, 6-7) for the late replacement.
Romanian fifth seed Adrian Ungur also took three sets and a decisive tie-breaker to get the better of Canadian Steven Diez 6-0, 4-6, 7-6.
Germany’s Michael Berrer, the sixth seed, joined Gojowczyk in making a first-round exit as he lost to Ungur’s compatriot Marius Copil 6-7, 6-4, 6-4. The two lowest seeds of the octet were drawn against UAE opposition as Russian Andrey Kuznetsov and the Netherland’s Thiemo De Bakker met Emirati wildcards Omar Behrouzian and Hamad Abbas Al Janahi respectively.
Neither man was unduly troubled either as Kuznetsov dismissed Behrouzian for the loss of just one game 6-0, 6-1 and De Bakker conceded only two more in his 6-2, 6-1 success over Al Janahi.
Huta Galung now faces Copil for a place in the main draw and the three other last eliminator tussles see Lacko encounter Kuznetsov, Chiudinelli meet De Bakker and Angelinos tackle Ungur.
Elsewhere, Nikolay Davydenko and Victor Hanescu will square off against Benjamin Becker and Artem Sitak for the right to reach the main draw proper of the men’s doubles, with the winners facing the second-seeded ‘Indo-Pak Express’ pairing of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi in the first round.
Davydenko and Hanescu overcame the number two seeds Huta Galung and Menendez-Maceiras 6-4, 6-3, whereas Becker and Sitak edged out the first-ranked Indian duo of Purav Raja & Divji Sharan 7-5, 7-5.