Soderling's aces control match in Bangkok

BANGKOK, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Sixth-seeded Robin Soderling picked up a first-round win Tuesday at the $576,000 Thailand Open hard-court tennis tournament in Bangkok.

Soderling fired 14 aces in defeating Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-2, 6-4 and the powerful serve kept him out of trouble throughout the match.

Seventh-seeded Marat Safin, however, was beaten in his second attempt at his 400th career ATP match win. Safin, who is 20-21 on the year, was upset 6-5, 7-6 (7-4) by Philipp Petzschner. Safin owns a career record of 399-242.

Robert Kendrick beat George Bastl 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) and Lukas Dlouhy got past Benjamin Becker, who was the runner-up in Bangkok last year, 6-5, 7-6 (7-4) in other first-round matches.

Also winning Tuesday were Nicolas Mahut, Simon Stadler and Teimuraz Gabashvili.

Stadler's victory earned him a shot at tournament No. 1 seed Novak Djokovic on Thursday.

The 2008 Thailand Open championship is worth $94,000 to the winner.