Dubai, February 28:

Defending champion Rafael Nadal rallied to beat Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 at the Dubai Open on Tuesday. Third-seeded Nikolay Davydenko, fifth-seeded Tommy Haas and No 7 Novak Djokovic were also winners.

Davydenko beat Moroccan veteran Younes El Aynaoui 6-7 (2), 7-5, 7-5. Haas defeated Czech wild card Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-3. Djokovic beat Kristof Vliegen of Belgium 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, and Robin Soderling of Sweden downed eighth-seeded David Ferrer 7-6 (13), 6-1. Other first-round winners were Mikhail Youzhny, Gilles Simon, Rainer Schuettler and Daniele Bracciali.

Qatar Open

DOHA: Seventh seeded Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany was dumped out by Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko in the first round of the 1.34 million dollar Qatar Open on Tuesday.

Fifth seeded Patty Schnyder survived a three set battle against Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai before winning 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. Schnyder will take on Meghann Shaughnessy of the US in the second round. Meanwhile 2005 runner-up Alicia Molik advanced to the second round when her Japanese rival Ai Sugiyama retired with a foot injury in the third set with the scores reading 0-6, 6-2, 3-1 in the Aussie’s favour.