Schuettler opens China Open with win

BEIJING, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- Rainer Schuettler needed to rally Monday to collect a first-round victory at the $524,000 China Open hard-court tennis tournament in Beijing.

Schuettler's serve seemed unsure in the first set as he placed fewer than 60 percent of his first serves in and dropped two of five break points. But the tournament's No. 7 seed was in just one break-point situation over the final two sets of a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Ivan Navarro.

Also Monday, Bjorn Phau took out Nam Hyun-woo 6-1, 6-3 and Yen-Hsun Le defeated Jun-Chao Xu 6-4, 6-4.

David Ferrer and Andy Roddick, who squared off in the first day of the Spain-U.S. Davis Cup semifinal last Friday, are the top two seeds at Beijing. No. 3-seeded Fernando Gonzalez is the defending champion.

The winner this year will take home $85,000.