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Del Potro loses on heavily-anticipated return to action

Juan Martin Del Potro hit 16 aces © Getty Images

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Former US Open champion Juan Martin Del Petro ended his eight-month spell on the sidelines on Tuesday, but it was a losing return to action for the Argentinian at the Thailand Open.

Del Potro has not played since January, after a wrist injury disturbed him during the best spell of his career. Having triumphed over Roger Federer at Flushing Meadows in 2009, the 22-year-old was up to the world No. 4 spot before injury struck.

That ranking now reads world No. 35 following wrist surgery in May, and the big-hitting right-hander has some work to do if he is to break back into the world's top five, after he lost to Olivier Rochus 7-6(7) 6-4 in Bangkok.

There were some hugely promising signs for Del Potro, not least the tally of 16 aces, which instantly showed that he is happy to snap his wrist through the ball despite the recent bout of surgery. He also got an hour and 44 minutes of tennis under his belt, which will only aid his end-of-season prospects.

However, after failing to break in the opening set, Del Potro struggled to take control of the tiebreaker, trailing throughout and throwing in a double fault as Rochus took the advantage.

The second stanza was a rather different affair as both players exchanged breaks of serve, before Rochus took command 4-2 as unforced errors inevitably crept into Del Potro's game. The Argentinian battled hard to level matters, saving two match points, but his statistics lowered as fatigue set in and Rochus completed victory with the first match point on his own serve.

Also through on Tuesday is Jarkko Nieminen, who was a 6-3 6-2 victor over Danai Udomchoke, and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who knocked out eighth seed Michael Berrer 6-4 7-6(4).

In the Malaysian Open, Marcos Baghdatis looked in excellent form as he opened his campaign with a dominant victory over Kei Nishikori. The sixth seed needed less than an hour to dispose of his dangerous opponent 6-1 6-1, dropping just three points on first serve in the entire match.

Baghdatis was joined in the next round on Tuesday by qualifiers Igor Andreev and Milan Raonic, as well as Alexandr Dolgopolov.

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