May 09, 2007	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 21, 1428

ROME, May 8: Britain’s 10th seed Andy Murray was dumped out in the first round of the Rome Masters on Monday after losing to Frenchman Gilles Simon in a rain-interrupted match at the Foro Italico.

Playing his first claycourt match of the season after suffering a back strain, Murray blamed his 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 defeat on a lack of sharpness.

Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt was another high-profile casualty on day one, the Australian losing to Spain’s Oscar Hernandez over three sets.

Spain's Nicolas Almagro fired 13 aces in his 7-5, 6-1 first-round demolition of Britain’s Tim Henman.

Almagro, who dropped just four points on his first serve, will now face world number one and top seed Roger Federer. The top eight seeds were all given first-round byes.

Spanish second seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, a champion here in 2001, needed three sets to shake off Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty while Russian Dmitry Tursunov was equally stretched in his defeat of Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman.

Spanish second seed Rafael Nadal, the world number two and champion in Rome for the past two years, awaits the winner of the unfinished first-round match between American Robby Ginepri and Italy's Daniele Bracciali.

Nadal, who beat Federer in last year's final, is aiming to become the first player to win the Foro Italico tournament - a warm-up for the French Open which starts on May 27 - three times in a row.

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal even has Roger Federer's number in doubles. Nadal teamed with Carlos Moya to beat Federer and his Davis Cup team-mate Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 7-6 (5) on Monday in the first round of the Rome Masters.

Nadal also won his only previous meeting with Federer in doubles. In 2004, Nadal and Tommy Robredo beat Federer and Yves Allegro in Indian Wells, California.

In singles, Nadal holds a 7-3 career edge over Federer and has won all five matches on clay, including a fifth-set tiebreaker win in last year’s Rome final and the Monte Carlo Masters final last month. Last week, Nadal beat Federer on a half-grass, half-clay court.

Nadal and Moya broke Federer’s serve to win the first set when Wawrinka netted two backhand volleys. In the second set, Federer and Wawrinka went ahead with an early break. Wawrinka had a chance to serve out the set at 5-4 – but made two errors to let Nadal and Moya draw even. The match ended when Federer returned Moya’s serve into the net on the first match point.

Results on Monday (x denotes seeding):

First round: Guillermo Canas (ARG) bt Jurgen Melzer (AUT) 7-5, 6-2; Potito Starace (ITA) bt Agustin Calleri (ARG) 6-3, 6-1; Robin Soderling (SWE) bt Benjamin Becker (GER) 6-3, 6-3; Gilles Simon (FRA) bt Andy Murray (GBR x10) 6-1, 1-6, 6-3; Oscar Hernandez (ESP) bt Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-1; Jose Acasuso (ARG) bt Martin Verkerk (NED) 6-3, 7-5; Nicolas Almagro (ESP) bt Tim Henman (GBR) 7-5, 6-1; Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP x16) bt Dominik Hrbaty (SVK) 3-6, 6-1, 6-4; Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) bt Jonas Bjorkman (SWE) 7-6 (12/10), 3-6, 6-1.

LI OFF TO WINNING START

BERLIN: Rising Chinese star Li Na defeated Maria Kirilenko of Russia as action got underway on Monday in the rain-affected German Open, a key claycourt warm-up for the French Open.

Li, the 14th seed, had to work hard to overcome the Russian after losing the second set before winning 6-1, 3-6, 6-1.

In other first-round matches, 13th seed Shahar Peer of Israel beat German hope Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-1, 6-2 and France's Severine Bremond was a 6-2, 6-1 winner over another German player, Sabine Lisicki.

The 1.34-million-dollar Berlin tournament marks the return to action of world number three Amelie Mauresmo after more than two-month absence following an operation for appendicitis.

World number eight Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic pulled out of the Berlin tournament because of a wrist injury. The German-born Vaidisova will be replaced in the draw by 16-year-old Austrian Tamira Paszek.

Results:

First round: Shahar Peer (ISR x13) bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER) 6-1, 6-2; Severine Bremond (FRA) bt Sabine Lisicki (GER) 6-2, 6-1; Li Na (CHN x14) bt Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1; Lucie Safarova (CZE) bt Olga Savchuk (UKR) 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-0. –Agencies