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LOS ANGELES, July 17: Former world No 1 Marat Safin battled past Australia's Chris Guccione 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 in the opening round of the Los Angeles Classic on Monday. Third seed Safin, who sacked his long-time coach Alexander Volkov last week after a run of poor results, clinched the match 7-2 in the decisive tiebreak after the pair had duelled for just over two hours at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
Playing in his first tournament since losing to Roger Federer in the third round of Wimbledon last month, Safin unleashed eight aces against his left-handed opponent, four of them in the third set.
The 6-foot-7 Guccione, 88th in the ATP rankings, saved two match points in the 10th game of the final set but was unable to claw his way back a second time after falling behind early in the tiebreak.
Safin, without an ATP victory since clinching his second grand slam title at the 2005 Australian Open, has never progressed beyond the second round in Los Angeles.
Another Russian, Dmitry Tursunov, swept through his opening match with a 6-1, 6-4 demolition of Thailand's Danai Udomchoke.
Fifth-seeded Tursunov, beaten by Germany's Tommy Haas in last year's final, fired down eight aces and converted four of his seven breakpoints to wrap up the match in a little over an hour.
Germany's Michael Berrer, making his debut at the event, produced the first upset of the week with a 6-4, 6-4 victory against eighth-seeded American Amer Delic.
In other matches, seventh-seeded Korean Lee Hyung-taik eased past American Kevin Kim 6-3, 6-2 and German wildcard Nicolas Kiefer, runner-up here in 2004, crushed Russia's Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-3.
Monday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):
First round: 3-Marat Safin (Russia) beat Chris Guccione (Australia) 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-2); 5-Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) beat Danai Udomchoke (Thailand) 6-1, 6-4; 7-Lee Hyung-Taik (South Korea) beat Kevin Kim (US) 6-3, 6-2; Michael Berrer (Germany) beat 8-Amer Delic (US) 6-4, 6-4; Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) beat Teimuraz Gabashvili (Russia) 6-3, 6-3.
STUTTGART (Germany): Gael Monfils upset second-seeded Tommy Robredo 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 on Monday in the first round of the Mercedes Cup.
Robredo, runner-up in Stuttgart in 2003, received a wild card into the main draw this year but his stay ended early.
In other matches, qualifier Marin Cilic served 14 aces to upset Benjamin Becker 6-3, 6-2.
Becker served poorly and drew a warning for breaking a racket and striking a ball over the stands in frustration.
Another qualifier, Boris Pashanski, rallied to beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 1-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Fernando Verdasco defeated Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-2 and Jiri Vanek beat Ivan Navarro Pastor 6-1, 6-1.
French Open champion Rafael Nadal is the top-seeded player in the $885,773 clay-court tournament. He was playing Alexander Waske on Tuesday.
Monday’s results:
First round: Gael Monfils (France) beat 2-Tommy Robredo (Spain) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2; Fernando Verdasco (Spain) beat Florian Mayer (Germany) 6-3, 6-2; Boris Pashanski (Serbia) beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 1-6, 6-2, 6-4; Jiri Vanek (Czech Republic) beat Ivan Navarro Pastor (Spain) 6-1, 6-1; Marin Cilic (Croatia) beat Benjamin Becker (Germany) 6-3, 6-2.
THE HAGUE (Netherlands): Argentina's Agustin Calleri and Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty on Monday both crashed out of the first round at the ATP clay court tournament here.
The No 5 seed and world No 30, Calleri, was quickly brushed aside in just 46 minutes 6-3, 6-1 by world No 102 Nicolas Devilder of France.
Meanwhile Hrbaty, the sixth seed, put up more of a fight winning the first set but was unable to maintain the tempo and succumbed to his 19-year-old rival Yevgeny Korolev 6-3, 6-7, 6-3.
Monday’s results:
First round: Victor Hanescu (Romania) beat Albert Montanes (Spain) 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 7-6 (7-4); Robin Haase (Netherlands) beat Felix Mantilla (Spain) 6-3, 6-2; Gilles Simon (France) beat Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (Spain) 6-2, 6-4; Mariano Zabaleta (Argentina) beat Kristof Vliegen (Belgium) 6-3, 6-3; Evgeny Korolev (Russia) beat 6-Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3; Nicolas Devilder (France) beat 5-Agustin Calleri (Argentina) 6-3, 6-1.
CINCINNATI (Ohio): India's Sania Mirza breezed to a 6-4, 6-3 win over American Abigail Spears in the opening round on Monday of the Women’s Open event.
The No 3 seed dominated the unseeded Spears in the service game, winning 69 percent (22-of-32) of her first serve points.
The world No 38 is on the same end of the bracket as top-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze, but would not face former champion Patty Schnyder until the final.
After falling in the semi-finals a year ago, Schnyder will look to reclaim the title when she opens against Australia's Monique Adamczak.
Chakvetadze, currently No 8 in the world, is the top seed and was scheduled to face Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus on Tuesday.
Seventh-seeded Akiko Morigami fought her way past France's Camille Pin, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-2), and American Lila Osterloh took down Ukraine's Viktoriya Kutuzova, 6-2, 6-3, in other Monday action.
Monday’s results:
First round: Lilia Osterloh (US) beat Viktoriya Kutuzova (Ukraine) 6-2, 6-3; 7-Akiko Morigami (Japan) beat Camille Pin (France) 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-2); 3-Sania Mirza (India) beat Abigail Spears (US) 6-4, 6-3.—Agencies
