Baghdatis stuns Berdych in Halle

Halle - Fourth seed Tomas Berdych was stunned 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/4) in the first round of the ATP Halle grass-court tournament by Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis on Tuesday.

In a repeat of the 2007 Halle final - won in straight sets by the Czech player - Baghdatis won the mental battle by prevailing in a pair of tie-breaks.

It was the 30-year-old Berdych's first match since losing to world No 1 Novak Djokovic in the French Open quarter-finals.

Baghdatis, who reached a career high ranking of No 8 in 2006 - the year he reached the Australian Open final and Wimbledon semi-final - has been slowly returning to form this season, although he is currently No 42 in the world.

Results on Tuesday at the ATP Halle grasscourt tournament (x denotes seeding):

First round

Malek Jaziri (TUN) bt Ricardas Berankis (LTU) 7-5, 6-4

Alexander Zverev (GER) bt Viktor Troicki (SRB x7) 6-4, 6-4

Yuichi Sugita (JPN) bt Taylor Fritz (USA) 7-6 (7/4), 2-6, 6-3

Florian Mayer (GER) bt Brian Baker (USA) 7-5, 7-6 (7/3)

Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) bt Tomas Berdych (CZE x4) 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/4)

Dustin Brown (GER) bt Albert Ramos (ESP) 6-3, 7-5

Ivo Karlovic (CRO) bt Andrey Kuznetsov (RUS) 7-6 (8/6), 6-3