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Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Marcos Baghdatis made a strong debut on Monday at the AEGON International in Eastbourne, dismissing eighth seed Pablo Andujar 6-1, 6-1 in the first round. The Cypriot, who reached the last four at Wimbledon in 2006, won 60 per cent of his return points and converted five of his eight break points to seal victory in 49 minutes.

Baghdatis, who celebrated his 27th birthday on Sunday, recorded his 20th match win of the season. He was a semi-finalist in Sydney (l. to Benneteau) and Zagreb (l. to Lacko) in the first two months of the year. Last week, he suffered a second-round exit to Lukas Rosol at The Queen’s Club.

Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq set a second-round meeting with defending champion Andreas Seppi after battling past Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 40 minutes. The No. 37-ranked Berlocq was a finalist on clay at the VTR Open in Viña del Mar (l. to Monaco) in February and has a 19-15 match record in 2012.

American Ryan Harrison came through a tight opener, battling from a set down to beat Canadian qualifier Vasek Pospisil 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(6). Harrison saved one match point at 5-6 in the third set tie-break, winning the final three points for victory in two hours and 29 minutes. The 20 year old is making his grass-court debut in 2012 and improved to a 15-14 match record.

Frenchman Jeremy Chardy was also extended to a third set tie-break in his first-round match, overcoming countryman Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-5, 6-7(5), 7-6(4) in just under three hours. The 58th-ranked Chardy fired 20 aces and saved 10 of 12 break points faced on serve.

British wild card Jamie Baker closed a gap of 150 places in the South African Airways ATP Rankings to defeat American Donald Young 6-1, 6-4 in 59 minutes. World No. 200 Baker posted his second ATP World Tour main draw win in as many weeks after reaching the second round at The Queen’s Club last week (l. to Tsonga). 

"It was good. Maybe a little bit of expectation on myself to, if not to win, but to play to a kind of similar level to last week," said Baker. "Although I lost 3 and 2 to Tsonga, I thought I actually - if you look at my level - I thought I played pretty well. He's obviously in a different class. I think I had a lot to build on from that."

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