De Bakker upsets Verdasco in Shanghai

SHANGHAI, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Ninth-seeded Fernando Verdasco was an upset victim Monday in the opening round of the ATP's $3.2 million Shanghai Masters.

Thiemo de Bakker topped Verdasco in a tight 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 match. A pair of third-set service breaks by de Bakker made the difference. De Bakker won 70 percent of the points on serve and fought off three of the four break-point situations he faced.

No. 12-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and 13th-seeded Jurgen Melzer advanced out of the first round with straight-set victories. Tsonga handled Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 and didn't drop serve in the process. Melzer ousted Yang Tsung-Hua 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) by overcoming a second-set break.

Qualifiers Mischa Zverev and Jeremy Chardy moved to the second round. Chardy was a 7-6 (7-4), 6-1 winner over Marcos Baghdatis and Zverev defeated Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7) despite five service breaks.

Also, Stanislas Wawrinka beat Gilles Simon 6-1, 6-4; Juan Monaco got past Florent Serra 6-4, 7-6 (7-3); and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez advanced over Eduardo Schwank 6-7 (8-10), 6-2, 6-4.