Former champion Paradorn Srichaphan made light of his wrist injury to tame Italian qualifier Simone Bolelli for a second-round berth in the US$436,000 Chennai Open on Tuesday.

The seventh seed, who took the crown in Chennai in 2003, prevailed over his 128th-ranked opponent 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 to open his 2007 campaign despite the injury which forced him to withdraw from the Asian Games in Doha last month.

Paradorn, who has dropped to 53 in the world, holds an impressive record of 20 wins from 24 matches in the Indian city where he finished runner-up in 2004 and 2005, losing to Spaniard Carlos Moya on both occasions. He almost cancelled his appearance in Chennai due to the injury but changed his mind at the last minute.

In their first encounter at the ATP level, the Thai and the 21-year-old Italian were neck-and-neck in their service games, leading to a tie-break in the first set. Paradorn fought back from 0-2 down in the mini set to set up a double set point at 6-4.

The big-serving Bolelli staved off the first set point for 5-6 and then charged to the net to put pressure on the Thai. But erratic net play cost him the next point, handing the more experienced Thai the opener.

Sloppy play saw Paradorn, who wore his favourite red shirt, drop the opening game of the second set. However, he managed a break in the fourth game to get back into the game. The Thai enjoyed his second break to go up 5-4 and comfortably held the next game to advance. He will play Austrian left-hander Stefan Koubek, a 2-6 6-3 7-5 winner over Bartolome Salva-vidal of Spain.

Koubek, No 80, had beaten Paradorn 6-7 (7-9) 6-4 6-3 in their lone previous meeting at an indoor carpet event in Basel, Switzerland, three years ago.

Paradorn said he was ready to go all the way. "I love coming to India and hope I can win here. It would be just the start I need for the rest of the year," said the popular Thai.

Meanwhile, world No 8 David Nalbandian said he was racing to be fit for the season's first Grand Slam after crashing out of the Chennai Open against little-known Kristian Pless.

The second seed from Argentina blamed a long-standing tendonitis problem in his left leg for the 2-6 6-3 7-5 opening-round upset in his first match of the year.

"I have had this injury since last year and it affected me a lot today," said Nalbandian, who turned 25 on Monday.

"Hopefully I will recover soon but it is too early to say if I will be fit for the Australian Open."

Earlier world No 2 and top seed Rafael Nadal of Spain opened his 2007 campaign with a 6-4, 6-2 win over the seasoned German Rainer Schuettler. "The crowd here is just great and I thank them for supporting me," said Nadal. "It feels like home in Chennai."

"It was good to begin the season with a win but I am not 100 per cent yet. I need some more matches for that. But I feel good with my serves and returns," he said.

The Nation

Madras, India