Costa secures first win since Roland Garros triumph
French Open champion Albert Costa overcame a sluggish start to edge past unheralded qualifier Oleg Ogorodov of Uzbekistan 3-6 6-3 6-2 in the first round of the $381,000 Energis Open on Tuesday.
Defending champion Alex Corretja, coming off his Gstaad title triumph last week, had little trouble sweeping past Alexandre Simoni of Brazil 6-2 6-4.
Costa, who was knocked out in the first round in Gstaad, was in danger of making another early exit before he rallied strongly to claim his first victory since lifting the trophy at Roland Garros last month.
Trailing by a set and a break in the second set, Costa won 12 of the last 15 games to secure his place in the second round.
Stung by his first-round defeat at the hands of French qualifier Paul-Henri Mathieu in Gstaad, Costa said that he was determined to bounce back in Amsterdam.
"I stopped playing completely for about 20 days, so my confidence was slightly lower than normal coming back last week," said the top-seeded Spaniard, who got married after winning his first grand slam title last month and then missed the grasscourt season to go on honeymoon.
"If you have to hit winners you have to be confident and you have to move well. At Roland Garros I felt I couldn't miss a ball.
CHANGED OUTLOOK
"Today I felt like I couldn't get one in. When I was a set and 2-0 down...I thought I was really going to lose. But I quickly changed my outlook and I just thought of winning, winning, winning," said Costa.
"If I win another match, I will feel more in the tournament."
Corretja, who was best man at compatriot Costa's wedding, barely put a foot wrong in his win over Brazil's Simoni. He was more troubled by his hectic travel schedule than with the task at hand.
"It was difficult playing today, especially mentally. I had to travel all day yesterday and only arrived late afternoon, when I managed to practice a bit," said the fourth seed.
"Then I practised quickly this morning. It's just a matter of adjusting from the quick courts in Gstaad where the balls stay lower."
Third seed Gaston Gaudio of Argentina also progressed with a 6-1 1-6 6-1 win over Russia's Nikolay Davydenko.
In other matches, Dutchman Jan Siemerink went down 6-2 7-6 to Denmark's Kristian Pless, while unseeded German Michael Kohlmann battled past Robin Soderling of Sweden 6-7 6-0 7-6.
