Nieminen advances at Power Horse Cup

May 20, 2013 - 7:26 PM Dusseldorf, Germany (Sports Network) - Veteran Finnish left-hander Jarkko Nieminen was an easy opening-round winner Monday at the inaugural $530,000 Power Horse Cup, a final French Open tune-up.

The sixth seed blew past Slovak Lukas Lacko 6-3, 6-1 on the red clay at Rochusclub, which used to play host to the ATP World Team tournament.

Also on Day 2, Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut overcame Luxembourg's Gilles Muller 2-6, 6-4, 6-2; Brazilian qualifier Andre Ghem leveled Japanese Go Soeda 6-4, 6-0; Argentine Guido Pella defeated Polish fellow qualifier Lukasz Kubot, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; and Germany's own Tobias Kamke topped wild card and fellow countryman Benjamin Becker 6-3, 6-2.

This week's top seeds are Serb Janko Tipsarevic and long-time German favorite Tommy Haas. The world No. 10 Tipsarevic will face Pella in his opener here.