Thursday, October 23 2008 -- BASEL, Switzerland, October 22, 2008 – James Blake, the fourth-seeded player in the world, defeated Nicolas Kiefer in a game of 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, advancing to the second round of the Swiss Indoors.

Where Blake was successful at his attempt, Mardy Fish, his fellow American and No. 8 seed, was not as successful as he is. Fish was defeated by the Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in a 7-6 (9), 6-4 game during the second round match.

During the first round, Marcos Baghdatis battled with his injuries and as an effect, he lost to Marcel Granollers from Spain in a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 match. Baghdatis required some treatment on his back when the match was still ongoing. Though still 23 years old, Baghdatis even missed a couple of matches due to some injury on the wrist. He had managed to climb as high as No. 14 before the injuries, but he faced Granollers when he was already at No. 43. Suffice it to say that after his recent defeat, his ranking is expected to drop even further.
Baghdatis, himself, foresees that he could be out of the Top 100 because of his defeats. However, he also expects to climb up the world rankings again since he was able to do so previously.

Granollers won his first title at Houston after defeating Blake in the final round.