Image Courtesy of kentucky.com

He put in the effort, but he is not there yet. The 2009 U.S. Open men’s singles champion Juan Martin del Potro lost his first match after a long injury break in two straight sets to Olivier Rochus of Belgium with 7-6 and 6-4 at the 2010 Thailand Open on Tuesday.

The Argentine started the tournament as the fifth-seed, but he did not move well and looked a little rusty whereas his opponent had the obvious control over the match.

Del Porto has had surgery in May and because he couldn’t play tournaments, his rating slipped to 36. He signed up for the Thailand Open to get a little bit of match-practice before the Shanghai Masters starting on October 10.

In the meantime, Rainer Schuettler of Germany defeated Ricardo Mello of Brazil in two sets with 6-2 and 6-2. Jarkko Nieminen won in two sets over Danai Udomchoke 6-3 and 6-2.

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