Chennai, Jan. 1 :    Chennai, Jan. 1:  Mahesh Bhupathi's journey into self-exploration was as dramatic as it was revealing on the first night of the fifth Gold Flake Open here at the Nungambakkam Stadium. The bottomline wasn't the right one for the Indian wild card, but there still were many positives for the doubles expert. If Andrei Stoliarov, a blue-eyed Russian, stole Bhupathi's thunder in a dramatic final set, it was because he was the fitter man after two pulsating hours of energy-sapping tennis. The 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) victory was an extremely creditable one for the 23-year-old from Sochi. It was a soft draw for Bhupathi alright, but few had expected a cakewalk for a man who had played no more than a solitary singles match last year. His service no longer the weapon it was after the shoulder surgery and his fitness still an area of concern, Bhupathi played superb tennis for a set and a half before running out of steam to let his younger rival back into the match. Serving aces at the hint of a crisis and firing on all cylinders off his favourite double-fisted backhand, the Bangalorean wrapped up the first set in 35 minutes. It was touch-and-go till the fifth game of the second set before, ironically, a series of backhand errors from Bhupathi gave Stoliarov the second set with two service-breaks. The tense decider saw four breaks and a plethora of missed chances at the end of which Bhupathi was literally breathless. The tie-break brought out the worst in him and it was again three faulty backhand shots which brought about his demise. Having lost to three different Australians (Pat Cash, Todd Woodbridge and Richard Fromberg) on his three previous appearances here, this was Bhupathi's chance to break the Chennai singles jinx. Alas! But at least he would have realised that there was still some singles play left in him and, maybe, the decision to avoid singles matches in Davis Cup could be up for review. The New Year had started even more dismally for another Indian wild-carder, Syed Fazaluddin. After four trying years on the circuit, Fazal finally got a taste of main draw action at a Tour-level meet here this evening. It turned out to be a bitter experience for the Indian Davis Cupper as he went down 4-6, 2-6 to Romanian Adrian Voinea in the opening match on Centre Court. To be fair to Fazal, he tried every trick in his book but still came far too short against the experienced Voinea.The tall Calcuttan came out in an aggressive frame of mind, determined to rule the net - be it on his serve or his opponent's. It seemed to work for a while, as the 26-year-old Voinea was taken by surprise. Fazal held comfortably in his first two service games, conceding a solitary point. He also had the Romanian staring at 0-30 in the second game, thanks to his chip-and-charge tactic. It all changed in the fifth game, as Voinea saw through the Indian's intentions. A backhand approach shot landed in the net to give Voinea break-point. Then, Fazal came up even on a second serve and managed a weak first volley which Voinea pounced on to drill a forehand pass. A series of aces (he had seven in all) helped Fazal stay in the set, but he made no further headway with the service returns. Voinea, a quarter finalist at the '95 French Open who has beaten the likes of Carlos Moya and Marat Safin in the last couple of years, was hardly troubled in pocketing the first set. Resembling a schoolboy appearing for his college entrance test, Fazal needed to hit the ball rather than chip and slice the returns. But before he knew what was happening, he had dropped serve in the second set. A Voinea service-return had too much punch, pushing Fazal to 30-40. And then, a drop volley meant to catch the Romanian off guard spun back to the Indian's court. Fazal escaped thrice before eventually going down double-break of serve in the seventh game as he drove a forehand long. It was all over for the Indian as Voinea held to love to close out the match. The gulf in class between a Satellite and Futures-level player and a regular Tour player was all too evident. It wasn't Fazal's fault that he got outclassed, he can blame it on the system he has grown up in. On the outside courts, two European journeymen celebrated New Year's Day by scalping seeded men in contrasting fashion. David Sanchez, a 20-year-old Spaniard who idolises Ben Johnson, saw off seventh seed and last year's losing finalist Markus Hantschk 6-3, 6-3. Dutchman Edwin Kempes fought hard to throw out eighth seed Jiri Vanek 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-3. Byron Black stopped the seeds' exodus with a three-set shutout of Russian qualifier Nikolay Davydenko. The fourth seed, who claimed the title here in 1999, saw off his teenaged opponent 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Hantschk, who was the revelation of the 2000 tourney, cut a sorry figure against the little-known Sanchez. He lost serve twice in each set, pulling back just one in the first, to be ousted in an hour and a quarter. 'I had hoped to at least make the quarters,' Hantschk said later. Sanchez, who broke through to the top-100 last season with his first-ever Tour quarter final (at Umag) and a string of wins in Challengers, said: 'It's my first big meet on a hardcourt, so the win's quite special. I served like a dream and that was crucial.' Sanchez, who next runs into the winner of the Leander Paes versus Tommy Robredo match, felt the turning point was in the sixth game of the second set. 'I was 0-40 down serving at 3-2, but managed to hold serve. Had he got the break back then, you never know what could have happened.' For eighth seed Vanek, it was a story of missed chances. Coming off his most successful year on the circuit, when he had a win over Andre Agassi in Atlanta, the 22-year-old Prague resident had nine break-points of which he converted only three. Vanek was also outserved by Kempes in a clash of two hard-hitters. While Kempes hit 14 aces, Vanek served 10. Magnus Norman's doubles expedition in Chennai came unstuck on his very opening attempt. The Swede, partnering Uzbekistani Oleg Ogorodov, lost 7-5, 4-6, 5-7 in the opening round to Jason Weir Smith and Paul Rosner - the fourth seeds from South Africa. Indian wild cards Vishal Uppal and Mustafa Ghouse went down without much ado to Czech pair Ota Fukarek and Frantisek Cermak. RESULTS SINGLES, 1st round: Adrian Voinea (Rom) bt Syed Fazaluddin 6-4, 6-2; Edwin Kempes (Net) bt Jiri Vanek (8, Czech Rep) 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-3; Michal Tabara (Czech Rep) bt Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) 6-3, 6-3; David Sanchez (Spa) bt Markus Hantschk (Ger) 6-3, 6-3; Byron Black (4, Zim) bt Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; Cyril Saulnier (Fra) bt Emilio Alvarez (Spa) 6-4, 6-2; Andrei Stoliarov (Rus) bt Mahesh Bhupathi (Ind) 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-2). DOUBLES, 1st round: Paul Rosner & Jason Weir Smith (SA) bt Magnus Norman (Swe) & Oleg Ogorodov (Uzb) 5-7, 6-4, 7-5; Ota Fukarek & Frantisek Cermak (Czech Rep) bt Vishal Uppal & Mustafa Ghouse 6-2, 6-4.