8 Jan 2014

Kohlschreiber wins close opening round match in Auckland

12:45 pm on 8 January 2014

The German fifth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber has won through to the second round of the Heineken Open men's tennis tournament in Auckland with a hard-fought three-set victory over Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain.

The eighth seed Robin Haase of the Netherlands was beaten in the first round by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain while New Zealand number one Rubin Statham lost to Slovakian qualifier Lukas Lacko.

The sixth seed Benoit Paire also won his first round match.

Statham and Michael Venus lost their first round doubles match to third seeds Jamie Murray of Britain and John Peers of Australia.