Marcos Baghdatis begins his ATP World Tour 500 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament campaign on Tuesday in the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament – Rotterdam, The Netherlands

11-17 February 2013 against Frenchman Benoit Paire, who was defeated on Sunday in the Open Sud de France final by his compatriot Richard Gasquet.

The title in Montpellier was the second of the season for Gasquet, who is seeded fourth in Rotterdam, and who is Baghdatis’ potential opponent in the second round of the event should the Cypriot overcome Paire.

Gasquet, on the other hand, faces a difficult test in his opening match himself, against Serbian Viktor Troicki.

Baghdatis, who is currently ranked 36th, has never played against Paire at an ATP World Tour, Grand Slam or Davis Cup main draw event.

At the last season’s edition of the event, the 27-year-old Cypriot was forced to retire in the second round against Czech Tomas Berdych early in the match with a leg injury, while his best result at the tournament was in 2011 when he reached the quarterfinals, where he lost to now-retired Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia.

Baghdatis will also take part in the doubles tournament alongside Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.

In the first round they will take on Austrian Julian Knowle and Filip Polasek of Slovakia, with the prospect of playing against the top-seeded Spanish pairing of Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez in the second round.