By Dinny Navaratnam
Marat Safin bundled out of the first round in the Thailand Open overnight, losing to World No. 131 Philipp Petzschner.
Safin, who controversially opted not to play for Russia in their Davis Cup semi-final loss to Argentina, was sluggish in his 6-4, 7-6(4) loss.
The former World No. 1 said he was outplayed.
“I didn’t play well, nothing happened for me out there. It’s my job to play tennis and I didn’t do it well today,” he said.
In other results, Robin Soderling defeated Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi 6-2, 6-4, while 2007 finalist Benjamin Becker lost to Lukas Dlouhy 6-4, 7-6 (4).