Top seed Rafael Nadal was pushed all the way in round one of the China Open by former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis but eventually came through for a 6-4 3-6 6-4 win.

In his first outing since losing in the semi-finals of the US Open to Juan Martin del Potro, Nadal was matched stroke for stroke by his Cypriot opponent before gaining the crucial break at 4-4 in the third set.

"I think I didn't play my best tennis," Nadal, who has been suffering from an abdominal strain, told www.atpworldtour.com.

"That's true. But I improved in the third (set) a lot. Especially in the last four games, I played much better.

"The victory is important because for me, he's a very good opponent, and (at) this tournament every opponent is very tough.

"We are playing here the top 45 of the world, so every match is going to be very difficult."

Nadal will next face James Blake, a 6-3 3-6 6-3 winner over Germany's Florian Mayer.

The shock of the day came courtesy of Lukasz Kubot, who beat third seed Andy Roddick 6-2 6-4.

"I'm going to be making obvious statements here, but I didn't play well," said Roddick.

"I was just trying stuff out there, and nothing seemed to be working that well."

There were no such problems for seeds Nikolay Davydenko, Fernando Verdasco and Robin Soderling - who all advanced.

Former champion Marat Safin beat Jose Acasuso, of Argentina, 6-4 6-2 to seal his progression - while there were also wins for Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic and Viktor Troicki, who will next face Novak Djokovic in an all-Serbian second-round clash.