Heineken Open's sixth seed David Nalbandian is through to the second round of the tournament after beating Italy's Fabio Fognini 7-6, 6-4.

"It was very tough, a little windy so the conditions weren't easy for us,” stuff.co.nz quoted Nalbandian as saying after the match.

"The first match of the year is never easy, I came here last year and couldn't play [through injury] so I missed the tournament very much and I'm happy to be back again this year," the Argentine Armenian said.