The Swede saved 15 of 16 break points and fired nine aces to wrap up the win in two hours and 25 minutes. The 28 year old is playing in an ATP World Tour main draw for the first time since reaching the Stockholm second round in October 2006, although he represented Sweden in Davis Cup action and at the ARAG ATP World Team Championship earlier this season.
The wild card is a two-time former finalist in Bastad, finishing runner-up to Juan Antonio Marin in 1999 and Magnus Norman in 2000. On his last appearance in 2006, the former World No. 33 lost in the first round to Lukas Dlouhy.
The No. 50-ranked Serra suffered his third successive first-round tour-level loss, after making early exits at ‘s-Hertogenbosch (l. to Becker) and Wimbledon (l. to Kohlschreiber). The 28 year old dropped to a 15-19 match record on the season.
Belgian Christophe Rochus became the second seeded player to fall in first-round action, bowing out to Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 4-6, 6-1, 6-0. After breaking his opponent three times in the opening set, the seventh-seeded Rochus failed to convert on his eight break points in the following sets as he lost his fifth straight tour-level match.
Gabashvili, who had also entered the match looking to snap a four-match losing streak on the ATP World Tour, improved to a 9-16 season record. Two weeks ago, he finished runner-up at the clay-court Challenger tournament in Braunschweig (l. to Hernandez).
Victor Crivoi, currently a career-high No. 85 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings, booked his place in the second round with a resounding 6-0, 6-4 victory over Denis Istomin in 76 minutes.
In the only doubles match Monday, top seeds Simon Aspelin and Paul Hanley fought for a 3-6, 7-6(6), 15-13 win over the Russian-German team of Michail Elgin and Frank Moser. Elgin and Moser had saved all nine break points faced on serve.
Aspelin and Hanley made their team's debut in April at the clay-court tournament in Casablanca, and reached the final (l. to Kubot-Marach). Aspelin is a two-time champion at his home country tournament, winning in 2003 (w/Bertolini) and in '07 (w/Knowle). Hanley reached the final in his only previous event appearance seven years ago with fellow Aussie Michael Hill.
(From Website : http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2009/07/Bastad-Monday-Serra-Rochus-Upset.aspx)
