TOKYO, Oct 2: Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark rallied to defeat local hope Gouichi Motomura 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 on Monday in the first round of the Japan Open tennis tournament.

No 1-ranked Roger Federer has a first-round bye and will enter the US$940,000 (euro742,000) tournament in the second round Wednesday against either Spain's Fernando Vincente or a qualifier.

Marcos Baghdatis, seeded No 2, withdrew because of a shoulder injury he sustained in practice at the Thailand Open last week.

In other men's first-round matches, Japan's Takeo Suzuki cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 win over Germany's Simon Greul, Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic defeated compatriot Robin Vik 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, while Taiwan's Wang Yeu-tzuoo downed American Kevin Kim 6-3, 6-1.Argentina's Edgardo Massa overpowered Konstantinos Economidis of Greece 6-1, 6-3; Frank Dancevic of Canada defeated Brazil's Marcos Daniel 6-4, 6-4; and Kristian Pless of Denmark was a 6-3, 6-4 winner over South Africa's Rik de Voest.

Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina, beat Japan's Go Soeda 6-3. 6-1.

In the women's bracket, Japan's Akiko Morigami upset third-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3) and Marta Domachowska of Poland defeated Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden 7-6, 7-6.—AP