Juan Martin del Potro loses to Rochus in comeback match

Del Potro stunned Roger Federer in the 2009 US Open final

Former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro suffered a disappointing defeat in his first match since returning from an eight-month injury lay-off.

Despite serving 16 aces, Del Potro of Argentina went down 7-6 (9-7) 6-4 to Olivier Rochus of Belgium in the first round of the Thailand Open in Bangkok.

Del Potro, 22, was unable to defend his Flushing Meadows title last month as he recovered from a wrist injury.

World number one Rafael Nadal has a first-round bye.

Del Potro was playing for the first time since a fourth-round exit to Marin Cilic at the Australian Open in January.

Rochus edged a tight first set on a tie-break and came back from 2-0 down in the second to wrap up victory in 1 hour, 44 minutes.

Del Potro became the first man other than Nadal to beat Roger Federer in the final of a Grand Slam tournament at the US Open last September, but began struggling with tendinitis in his right wrist the following month.

He managed to reach the final of the ATP World Tour Finals in London but suffered a recurrence in the new year and underwent surgery in May.

Del Potro, whose world ranking has slipped from four to 36 during his time away, is due to continue his comeback in Tokyo next week.

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Give your reaction to Del Potro's defeat

"I played a good match, I had my chances in the first set tie-break and he played some great points," said del Potro.

"I'm just happy to be back on the circuit and I hope I get better and better. I need to work hard to get back into the Top 10.

"Of course I would love to be back there soon. The most important thing for today is my wrist - and it's perfect. I hope to play five or six more tournaments between now and the end of the season. We will see how it goes."

In other ties, Belgian qualifier Ruben Bemelmans set up a second-round clash with Nadal after beating fellow qualifier Frederik Nielsen of 6-2, 6-3.

Germany's Rainer Schuettler eased past Brazilian Ricardo Mello 6-4 6-2, Israeli Dudi Sela defeated Konstantin Kravchuk of Russia 6-3 6-4 while Kazak Mikhail Kukushkin edged past American Ryler DeHeart 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-4.

Meanwhile, there was a more successful return to the the court for Marcos Baghdatis.

The Cypriot, playing for the first time after a month's lay-off, thrashed Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-1 6-1 to reach the second round of the Malaysian Open.

"I had to stay focused and concentrate on the game as I have not played for four weeks," said the 2006 Australian Open finalist.

"I'm happy with the way I responded to Kei's challenge and even happier that I didn't give him a chance to find a way into the match.

"I'm still finding my feet out there and to have won in straight sets is good for me."