Intro:

Tomas Berdych, Kei Nishikori, Richard Gasquet and Giles Simon take wins on opening day of Kooyong Classic in Melbourne, Australia on Wednesday.

Script:

The Kooyong Classic got underway in Melbourne on Wednesday, with the venue the former home of the Australian Open.

Now the exhibition tournament is seen by many players taking part as an ideal warm up for the first Grand Slam of the new year.

The Australian Open begins on Monday the 13th of January at Melbourne Park.

In the opening match Tomas Berdych, the number 7-ranked Czech, beat Spain's Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-2.

Verdasco won the event in 2010 after claiming memorable wins over Fernando Gonzalez, Novak Djokovic, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga en route to lifting the coveted Lew Hoad trophy.

There was also a comfortable victory for Kei Nishikori of Japan, who triumphed over Grigor Dimitrov, 7-6, 6-4.

And despite conceding the second set to youngster Jordan Thompson France's Richard Gasquet was able to secure a hard-fought 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 win in his match.

Elsewhere Frenchhman Giles Simon rallied from matchpoint down to defeat Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka.
Wawrinka, the world number eight, served for a straight-sets victory but committed more than 40 unforced errors in windy conditions as Simon seized the initiative and took a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 win.