Wawrinka beaten in Basel

Basel - Stanislas Wawrinka's prospects of playing in his first ATP World Tour Finals were damaged Tuesday by a 6-4, 6-3 first-round loss to Edouard Roger-Vasselin at the Swiss Indoors.

The eighth-ranked Swiss struggled with his service, landing barely one-third of his first serves.

At age 29, Roger-Vasselin of France got his first career victory against a top-10 player.

Wawrinka, a U.S. Open semifinalist last month, is eighth in the points race to secure a place in the eight-man finals lineup in London next month.

The ninth-placed player after next week's Paris Masters will advance, because Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has ended his season following back surgery.

Still, Wawrinka is under pressure from Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet, who begins in Basel on Wednesday against countryman Michael Llodra.

Wawrinka, seeded No. 4, has typically under-achieved at home tournaments. He has lost his opening match at Basel to a lower-ranked opponent three times in his past five visits.

Seventh-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy also lost Tuesday, 7-6 (3), 6-3, against Daniel Brands of Germany, who beat Roger Federer at the Swiss Open in Gstaad in July.

Federer, third-seeded this week, will play his second round match Wednesday against Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, who beat Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 7-5, 7-6 (3).

Kei Nishikori, the No. 6 seed from Japan, eased past Swiss wild card entry Marco Chiudinelli 6-2, 6-4.

Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus beat German qualifier Benjamin Becker, 7-6 (8), 6-1, and Ivan Dodig of Croatia advanced after winning just two games when Carlos Berlocq of Argentina retired injured.

Results on Tuesday on the second day of the ATP Swiss Indoors tournament in Basel (x denotes seeding):

First round:
Daniel Brands (GER) bt Andreas Seppi (ITA x7) 7-6 (7/3), 6-3
Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bt Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI x4) 6-4, 6-3
Kei Nishikori (JPN x6) bt Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) 6-2, 6-4
Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) bt Benjamin Becker (GER) 7-6 (10/8), 6-1
Ivan Dodig (CRO) bt Carlos Berlocq (ARG) 2-0, retired
Denis Istomin (UZB) bt Horacio Zeballos (ARG) 7-5, 7-6 (7/3)