Gstaad-Winner Marcel Granollers Wins First Match in Austria

Last week's Gstaad-clay-court champion, Marcel Granollers, took a strong start in Austria by beating Italian Filippo Volandri, who had defeated him earlier this year in Belgrade, 6-4, 6-2.

The seventh seed won 70 percent of points on his service games while breaking the Italian's serve four times out of five attempts.

At a career high in the world rankings, No. 33 Granollers won his second ATP World Tour title after defeating countryman Fernando Verdasco.

"It’s very important for me because I won my first tournament in 2008, which was a little unexpected, and three years later I won here. So there is a lot of work behind today and I feel amazing," said Granollers to the ATP about his progress.

Two qualifiers joined Granollers in headingt to the second round of the the Bet-At-Home Cup Kitzbuhel. Next, he will face No, 196 Antonio Veic.

Qualifier Veic of Crotia upset No. 70 Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-2 in front of his opponent's home crowd.

Haider-Maurer played an erratic game with seven aces and eight double faults. Veic pushed the Austrian to 15 break point opportunities and converted seven.

Brazilian qualifier Joao Souza defeated Jerzy Janowicz of Poland, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(3) in two hours, 21 minutes.

Both hit eight aces but Jankowicz had just as many double faults. Neither took many breaks of serve, however, Souza converted two of 11 attempts.

For the last match of the day, Santiago Giraldo of Colombia ousted Daniel Brands 6-3, 6-3 in 68 minutes.

He was able to save 100 percent of the attempts to take away his service game while winning 45 of 62 total service points.

Giraldo will face the fourth seed Fabio Fognini in the second round.