It’s been a difficult road back from injury this year for Radek Stepanek who spent close to a year off the courts due to a back injury. With five wins and seven defeats on tour since reappearing at the BMW Open in April, the unorthodox Czech player has also spent time on the Challenger tour without very promising results. But today, making use of his protected ranking (he currently lies in 141st place) he lifted a big weight off his shoulders by defeating Yuichi Sugita (ranked ten places above him) 7-6, 6-0 in Kuala Lumpur.
The two-time Davis Cup champion heads into his favourite part of the season, on the hard and indoor courts which suit his aggresive serve and volley game so well. Just how far down the recovery route he’s come will be put to the test in the second round where he faces number 1 seed David Ferrer.
Jeremy Chardy, who is enjoying one of his best season’s on tour, was forced to win in three sets against young gun Alexander Zverev, who will be looking for a change of fortune in the near future as his last three defeats have come in matches that have gone the distance (including a five-setter against Kohlschreiber at the US Open). Benjamin Becker will be the next obstacle for Chardy in the second round in Malaysia.
Just like Stepanek, another player struggling on his return to the tour after a lengthy injury is Spain’s Nicolas Almagro. Once a top ten player, the Spaniard’s ranking plumitted all the way to 174 in April as a result of his inactivity because of a foot injury. This year has seen more downs than ups for Almagro who has a 17-17 record on tour but was recently buoyed by lifting the title at the Genova Challenger. Unfortunately for him it was another frustrating night though as he didn’t make the most of a wild card in Malaysia and lost in three sets against Marcos Baghdatis, who will take on Vasek Pospisil in the second round after the Canadian defeated Yasutaka Uchiyama.
Basilashvili, Kukushkin and Ito also booked their tickets for the secound round in Kuala Lumpur.
