Vienna - Spain's Nicolas Almagro came good on his fourth attempt at the Bank Austria Trophy Monday, claiming his first victory at the event with a strong performance against Australian Peter Luczak. Almagro, seeded fifth, fired 20 aces against the 15 of his opponentto reach the second round5-7, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 in a battle lasting more than two hours.
The Spaniard ran his 2009 record to 28-21 with a title in February from Acapulco and four quarter-finals.
The 28th-ranked Almagro moved into a second-round clash with American Wayne Odesnik, who held off feisty Czech qualifier Lukas Rosol 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6) in his debut at the tournament.
On a lightly scheduled opening day, German Daniel Brands, the number 125 Munich semi-finalist, advanced over Robert Kendrick of the US 7-6 (7-5), 7-5.
Romanian Victor Crivoi put out Czech Jan Hernych 6-3, 6-3.
Leading seeds go into action later in the week, with Croatian Marin Cilic, number two Radek Stepanek and Frenchman Gael Monfils all theoretically in the chase for the last two spots at next month's eight-man season final in London.
Cilic, losing finalist against Novak Djokovic this month in Beijing, was brought into the Vienna mix after slumping US Open champion Juan Del Potro of Argentina pulled out and returned home to try and recover from injury and the emotional trauma of winning the major over Roger Federer.
Del Potro fell flat at Asian events in Tokyo and Shanghai, losing both matches he played.
With his qualification already assured for the World Tour Finals in London starting November 22, the 21-year-old needs to lift himself as the season runs to a close.
Cilic stands 12th in the chase for the last two places in the year-end field, with Stepanek 14th and Monfils 16th.
Cilic starts Vienna play against Colombian qualifier Alejandro Falla. Stepanek takes on Lucasz Kubot of Poland, while Monfils, who quit a match in Shgnahai with back pain, faces Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
