Montanes on the Mercedes Cup move

Reigning champion Albert Montanes opened his defence of the Mercedes Cup with a 4-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 win over fourth-seeded Gilles Simon.

Montanes was joined in round two by fellow Spaniard and eighth seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who needed only 75 minutes to dispatch Czech Radek Stepanek 6-1 6-3.
Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky was another winner on the opening day, clinching a marathon 4-6 6-2 7-6 (7/5) victory over another Czech, world number 131 Jaroslav Pospisil.