Berdych, Harris Advance On Day One In Winston-Salem

Tomas Berdych won his first tour-level match since February on Sunday at the Winston-Salem Open, beating Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. The former World No. 4, a wild-card entry into the ATP 250 tournament, last won at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

“It was a tough match. It was a great start for me but then I still knew that it’s not going to go like that all the way,” Berdych said. “When you don’t play for a long time, it’s not easy. You really have to battle out for every single point, which I did today.”

The Czech started the year 10-3, reaching the Qatar ExxonMobil Open final and the fourth round of the Australian Open. But injury woes have kept the 33-year-old from regular action. He’s played only one match – a first-round loss to American Taylor Fritz at Wimbledon – since March. Berdych will next meet eighth seed Filip Krajinovic of Serbia.

Indian Prajnesh Gunneswaran will meet top seed Benoit Paire after beating Gstaad finalist Cedrik Marcel-Stebe 6-3, 6-4. In other action, Romanian Marius Copil fought past Slovakian Martin Klizan 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 and will next face 11^th seed Pablo Carreno Busta.

Dutchman Robin Haase swept American Denis Kudla 6-4, 7-6(3) and will meet fourth seed Joao Sousa in the second round. South African Lloyd Harris ran away with his first-round match against Spain’s Jaume Munar 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-1, and 12^th seed Casper Ruud of Norway awaits Harris in the second round.