Munich, Germany – Fifth-seeded Bernard Tomic was a first- round winner Monday at the $525,000 BMW Open, a clay-court French Open tuneup.
The 19-year-old Aussie, who was born in Stuttgart, Germany and is making his Munich debut this week, smacked nine aces in handling Belgian veteran Olivier Rochus 6-4, 6-3 in 68 minutes at Iphitos Tennis Club. Rochus was a surprise titlist here back in 2006.
Belgians went 0-2 on Day 1, as another result saw Colombian Santiago Giraldo ground Steve Darcis 6-4, 6-3.
The top seeds this week are former Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, of France, and lefthanded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.
Russian two-time winner Nikolay Davydenko, this week's seventh seed, beat Germany's own Florian Mayer in last year's BMW finale.
This week's winner will earn $95,000.
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