Rosset and Heuberger bounce back

Swiss Davis Cup team members Marc Rosset and Ivo Heuberger have both won their opening matches at the latest tennis tournaments in France and Denmark.

The two players bounced back from a disappointing weekend of play in Moscow, where the Swiss team narrowly lost to Russia.

Rosset had to work hard for victory against France’s Thierry Acione in the first round of the $475,000 Marseille Open. Helped by 18 aces, the Genevan eventually scraped through 7-6, 7-6 to complete his first win on the tour since October.

Though his recent form has been far from impressive, Rosset is certainly no stranger to victory in Marseille having won the French tournament in 1993, 1994 and 2000.

Across Europe in Denmark, teammate Ivo Heuberger beat Germany’s Michael Kohlmann 6-2, 6-4 in the first round of the Copenhagen Open.

Heuberger needed just over an hour to see off Kohlmann and will now go on to face another German and his regular training partner, Rainer Schüttler, in the next round.

Defeats for Bastl and Gagliardi

Schüttler will be looking to take his second Swiss scalp of the tournament having beaten Heuberger’s Davis Cup team-mate George Bastl on Tuesday. The Chicago-born Swiss went down 6-7, 3-6 despite a strong start which had seen Bastl serving for the first set at 5-4.

Swiss women’s number three Emmanuelle Gagliardi was also having a bad day slightly further afield. The 25-year-old Genevan lost in straight sets (6-7, 6-7) to Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn during the first round of the Doha tournament in Qatar.

Without a win since January’s Australian Open, Gagliardi is due to be back in action next week at the WTA tournament in Dubai.

swissinfo with agencies