Seeds cruise on Stockholm Open first day

STOCKHOLM, Oct 9 (Reuters) Seeds Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer and Olivier Rochus won their opening round matches in straight sets at the Stockholm Open today.

Czech Tomas Berdych, the world number 12, seeded third in the tournament, easily ousted German Bjorn Phau 6-3 6-2.

Phau was unable to cope with the heavy baseline play of Berdych, who next faces the winner of the match between Swedish wildcard Andreas Vinciguerra and French qualifier Nicolas Devilder.

Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer demolished Italian Andreas Seppi 6-1 6-4 while Belgian Rochus, the sixth seed, beat American Vincent Spadea 6-3 6-4.

In a battle of former champions, Thai Paradorn Srichaphan, the 2002 winner, disposed of American 2003 champion Mardy Fish 7-6 3-6 6-1.

World number two Rafael Nadal of Spain plays his first round match on Tuesday against Dutchman Raemon Sluiter.

REUTERS DH RAI0247