Defending champion Xavier Malisse uncorked a sprightly performance at the Chennai Open before he downs his bottle of champagne, waiting in the hotel refrigerator, to settle for a quiet new year's celebration.

Malisse, coming back from a wrist injury, took off from where he had left last year to beat Luxembourg's Gilles Muller 6-4, 6-3 in the first round at the SDAT stadium, Nungambakkam on Monday.

Indian wildcard entrant Vishnu Vardhan lasted only 51 minutes against France's [Images] Edouard Roger-Vasselin, going down 1-6, 2-6 in the first round.

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Vardhan, who won the national grasscourt championship in Kolkata earlier this month, was found wanting in most areas against the crafty Frenchman.

The Hyderabadi lad showed some gumption towards the end, winning some tough, long points from the baseline, but was too far out to come back into the match.

Playing his first main draw match at the ATP level, Vardhan saw the huge rift in the standard first hand. His opponent, ranked 97, wasn't lethal.

He was solid from the baseline and with Vardhan gifting him balls mid-court, took little time to come in and kill the volleys.

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The only other Indian in the singles, Prakash Amritraj, plays a late evening match against qualifier Alexandre Kudravtsev, who hails from a small Russian town of Ekaterinborg.

Kudravtsev qualified for the main draw for the first time when he toppled top-seeded fellow Russian Igor Kunitsyn 6-4, 6-4.

Croatia's Lovro Zovko, Rajeev Ram of USA and Austrian Jurgen Melzer also qualified for the main draw.

Malisse was driven onto the courts in an auto-rickshaw and it didn't take the Belgian long to set the pace in the match. He broke Muller in the opening game and was 3-1 up within 15 minutes. He threatened to make more damage, but the 6'5" Muller came up with the big serves to save two break points in the fifth game.

Muller, better known for beating Rafael Nadal [Images] in the Wimbledon second round in 2005, was often erratic and didn't look like creating any problem for Malisse.

"The first match is always the most important one and winning here was good for my confidence," said Malisse, who sent down seven aces. "It was nice to be back on centre court... good crowd, good reception."

The Belgian then broke Muller in the third and ninth game of the second set to complete victory in an hour and 13 minutes.

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