Spain's Rafael Nadal makes a return to Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus during their round of 16 match at the ATP Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart yesterday. (AFP)

Reuters/Stuttgart

Two-times Wimbledon champion Rafa Nadal kicked off his grasscourt season with a 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-2 defeat of Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart yesterday.
It was a morale-boosting win for the Spaniard who suffered only his second defeat in 72 matches at the French Open last week when he lost in the quarter-finals to Novak Djokovic.
The 29-year-old top seed, down at 10th in the ATP rankings after a disappointing year, will have been pleased at how he responded in the deciding set having been pegged back by Baghdatis and the two hours 40 minutes he spent honing his grasscourt game will serve him well.
Nadal began in rusty fashion, dropping serve early on and Baghdatis had chances to lead 5-2 with a double break but allowed the world number 10 off the hook.
A dreadful service game from Baghdatis allowed Nadal back into the first set and Nadal gradually began to find his range, taking the opener on the tiebreak.
Nadal saved two set-points at 4-5 in the second set, the second with a deft drop volley, but could not fend off Baghdatis in the tiebreak as the match went the distance. He took command in the decider though and moved through to the quarter-finals where he will face Australian Bernard Tomic.
Tomic earlier continued his pre-Wimbledon build-up, overpowering Tommy Haas 7-6 (8/6), 6-2. The fifth-seeded Queenslander cut short the comeback week of the 37-year-old Haas, who was playing for the first time in more than a year since undergoing shoulder surgery.
Tomic had to battle to close out victory, with former ATP number two Haas salvaging three match points in the penultimate game on the new grass of the Weissenhof club, which was changed from clay in time for this edition.
Tomic concluded victory with a love game to advance to the last eight in just over an hour and a quarter.
The 22-year-old winner broke twice with Haas saving six other break points as the wild card-entry veteran worked his way back into the sport after yet another lengthy injury pause.
Tomic’s win gave him bragging rights in Germany after losing to Haas three years ago on grass in Halle when the Aussie retired in the first set due to an abdominal injury.
Elsewhere, Mischa Zverev assured at least one local in the quarters as he defeated Italian Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-4.
Zverev, ranked 502, will be playing in his first quarter-final since Halle in 2013 when he lost to Roger Federer.
Mahut ousts defending champ Agut
At the Topshelf Open, Nicolas Mahut upset defending champion and third seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-2, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
The French qualifier converted five of his eight break points to beat Bautista Agut in 74 minutes.
“I really started pretty strong,” said Mahut. “It gave me a lot of confidence for the rest of the match. But he came back really strong and maybe I lost my concentration for a while. I was 4-2 down and played a really good game to come back at 4-3.
“I’m really happy with how I played, because last year I lost to him in the quarter-finals. I played really good tennis and today I played much better than last year.”
The 33-year-old Mahut won the title at this ATP World Tour 250 grass-court tournament in 2013 and goes on to face sixth seed Adrian Mannarino, who dismissed Marco Chiudinelli 6-3, 6-2 in 71 minutes.
Second seed David Goffin beat Jurgen Melzer 7-6(2), 6-2 to advance to the quarter-finals. The Belgian saved six of the seven break points he faced in the 81-minute victory.
Goffin will next face qualifier Illya Marchenko, who ousted eighth seed Joao Sousa 6-3, 7-6(2).
In doubles, top seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau beat Gilles Muller and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 7-6(3), 7-6(5) to set a semi-final clash with Ivo Karlovic and Lukasz Kubot.
Third seeds Jamie Murray and John Peers reached the semi-finals with a 6-4, 7-6(2) victory over Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram in 80 minutes. The British-Australian duo are bidding to reach their fourth ATP World Tour final of the season.