<div><p>MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Ninth seed Fernando Verdasco ground down a stubborn Carsten Ball to advance to the second round of the Australian Open Tuesday.</p><p>The left-handed Spaniard initially had trouble against the gangly Australian wildcard, losing the first set in a tiebreak before he clinched the match 6-7 7-6 7-5 6-2.</p><p>Verdasco, who won the invitational Kooyong Classic before the Australian Open, had a solid workout against the 22-year-old Ball, who had a poor service game but attacked the world number nine at every opportunity to keep him off his stride.</p><p>Both players had several opportunities to seize the initiative before Verdasco broke Ball's serve twice in both the third and fourth sets to come through in just over three hours.</p><p>(Reporting by Greg Stutchbury; Editing by Alastair Himmer)</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=67230143&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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