AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- Eighth-seeded former champion Philipp Kohlschreiber was a come-from-behind first-round winner Monday at the $450,000 Heineken Open, a final Australian Open tune-up.
The German Kohlschreiber, who titled here back in 2008, overcame Argentine Carlos Berlocq in 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 fashion on the hardcourts at ASB Tennis Centre.
Some other opening-day action saw Colombian Santiago Giraldo ground Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-2, 6-4 and former top-10 Spaniard Tommy Robredo come back to beat American wild card Michael Venus 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 6-0. Robredo reached the Auckland finale in 2007.
On Tuesday here, fifth-seeded Argentine Juan Monaco will take on France's Adrian Mannarino and sixth-seeded former Wimbledon runner-up David Nalbandian will face Italian Fabio Fognini.
Towering American John Isner beat Frenchman Arnaud Clement in last year's Auckland finale. The former Aussie Open runner-up Clement will meet last week's Chennai runner-up, Belgian Xavier Malisse, on Tuesday.
This week's top seeds are Spaniards David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro and the 6-foot-10 Isner. Ferrer was the 2007 Auckland titlist.
