Marcos Bagdatis notched a 7-5, 7-5 victory in his Montpellier debut on Monday, downing Lukas Lacko at the Open Sud de France.

He triumphed after one hour and 38 minutes in what was his first match of the 2016 ATP World Tour season. Baghdatis fired nine aces and saved three of five break points faced, while converting on four on Lacko`s serve.

In statements, Baghdatis said it was a “good match. I don’t have many matches in my legs because I only played the Australian Open this year. Here I was lucky enough to get the wild card… but I think I played pretty well. Today was a matter of trying to find a way to win, to fight and that’s what I did.”

The Cypriot tennis player, who drew level in his head-to-head against the Slovakian at 2-2, will face Japan`s Taro Daniel next. He claimed their lone previous encounter on the hard courts of the Vancouver Challenger in 2014.