Gonzalez wins Vienna opener

VIENNA, Oct 9 (Reuters) Fernando Gonzalez overcame strong resistance from Gilles Simon of France to reach the second round of the Vienna Open today, winning 7-6 6-4.

Although the fifth seed from Chile struck his forehand well, Simon refused to be intimidated and was able to engage him in some fiercely contested rallies.

Gonzalez broke in the opening game but his advantage was short-lived with Simon immediately breaking back. The Frenchman then fought off a break point at 4-4 but when the set went to a tiebreak he struck his first double fault of the match to give Gonzalez a 7-6 lead.

Gonzalez began the second set by holding off a break point with a smash before breaking Simon and then holding to love to lead 3-0.

Serving strongly and apparently secure, Gonzalez then played a poor game at 4-2 to concede his serve. He claimed a lengthy 10th game of the set, firing a forehand winner down the line to win on his sixth match point.

''It was a really tough match and he attacked really well,'' Gonzalez told Reuters. ''He had really good grondstrokes, but I'm playing good too.'' In other matches on the opening day, Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty defeated Italian qualifier Simone Bolelli 6-2 6-4, Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland beat Croatian qualifier Marin Cilic 6-4 6-1 and Oliver Marach beat Rainer Eitzinger 2-6 7-5 7-6 in an all-Austrian battle.

Defending champion Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia is top seed with Argentina's David Nalbandian seeded two, American Andy Roddick three and Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus four.

Ljubicic will face Agustin Calleri in the first round, Nalbandian will play compatriot Juan Ignacio Chela, Roddick takes on another Argentine, Jose Acasuso, and Baghdatis plays Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain.

REUTERS DH RAI0106