Verdasco scores wind-blown Kooyong wins

MELBOURNE: Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco scored opening victory amid a "little typhoon" to begin final Australian Open preparations at the Kooyong Classic on Wednesday.

Verdasco beat Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-2, 7-6 (7/4).

Verdasco took charge of his game as he was tested by the weather.

The 33rd-ranked Spaniard collected the first set against Simon in 27 minutes and thwarted the Frenchman as Simon served to level at a set each.

Instead, he was broken to love, with Verdasco eventually winning a tie-breaker on a concluding Simon backhand error.

France´s Richard Gasquet, meanwhile, beat Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (8/6), 3-6, 6-2, with Gasquet finishing with 28 winners and three breaks of serve.

Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov also beat Filip Krajinovic of Serbia 6-4, 6-3. (AFP)