Seventh seed Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan began the new year on the wrong foot as he fell to a first-round defeat in the ATP Chennai Open on Tuesday.
Lu, the 29-year-old veteran ranked 59th in the world, failed to shrug off off-season rustiness to lose to No.123 Matthias Bachinger of Germany 6-4 3-6 6-4.
“It took me time to settle down. I made too many mistakes,” said Taiwan’s premier player, who finished in the top-100 for the fifth straight year in 2012.
Bachinger next plays Roberto Agut of Spain, who beat Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia 7-6 (8-6) 6-2.
There was no early trouble for fifth-seeded Benoit Paire of France, who brushed aside Italian Flavio Cipolla 6-3 6-4 in an hour and 18 minutes.
Paire, one of the most improved players on the circuit who rose from number 95 to 47 last year, was delighted to get his first match out of the way.
“It is nice to start the season with a win,” said the 23-year-old from Avignon, France. “It is not easy to adjust to this hot weather, but I hope to play better in my next match.”
Indian wildcard Somdev Devvarman, fit again after an injury-prone year that saw him slip to 663 in the rankings, beat Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic 6-3 6-3.
Amritraj will take on eighth-seeded Japanese Go Soeda next for a place in the quarter-finals.
German qualifier Cedrik-Marcel Stebe beat Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands 6-4 6-4 to qualify for a second-round match against fourth seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.
The top four seeds – Berdych, Janko Tipsarevic, Marin Cilic and Wawrinka – were given first round byes.