MIAMI (Florida), March 28: American Mardy Fish, who shocked world No 1 Roger Federer en route to the Indian Wells final last week, won’t be making a giant-killing run at the second ATP Masters Series tournament of the season.

Fish fell at the first hurdle at the $7.54 million WTA and ATP Sony Ericcson hardcourt tournament here on Thursday, eliminated 6-3, 6-3 by France’s Arnaud Clement.

For Clement it was a welcome change of fortune after three straight first-round defeats in 2008, at the Australian Open, Marseille and Indian Wells.

Fish was coming off perhaps the most impressive tournament of his career.

He eliminated five seeded players at Indian Wells, including three top-10 players in Nikolay Davydenko, David Nalbandian and Federer.

He finally succumbed to Serbian Novak Djokovic in the final, but his performance saw him leap from 98th to 40th in the world rankings.

Defending champion Djokovic is to open his campaign on Friday, as is Spanish world number two Rafael Nadal.

In women’s first-round play, Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama defeated Russian wild card Anastasia Pivovarova, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2).

Sugiyama, 32, is making her 14th appearance here, while 17-year-old Pivovarova was playing her second career WTA event.

France’s Emilie Loit defeated Virginia Ruano Pascual, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4, to set up a clash with second-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia – the newly crowned Indian Wells champion.

Defending champion Serena Williams, seeded eighth, was slated to launch her campaign with a second-round match on Friday, as did world No 1 Justine Henin of Belgium.

Thursday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles: First round: Gael Monfils (France) bt John Isner (US) 6-7 (8-10), 6-3, 6-3; Thomas Johansson (Sweden) bt Igor Kunitsyn (Russia) 4-6, 6-1 6-2; Ryan Sweeting (US) bt Filippo Volandri (Italy) 6-3, 6-2; Robin Soderling (Sweden) bt Stefan Koubek (Austria) 6-0, 6-1; Mario Ancic (Croatia) bt Gilles Simon (France) 6-2, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3; Arnaud Clement (France) bt Mardy Fish (US) 6-3, 6-3; Simone Bolelli (Italy) bt Santiago Giraldo (Colombia) 6-3, 7-5; Jose Acasuso (Argentina) bt Santiago Ventura (Spain) 6-2, 6-4; Bobby Reynolds (US) bt Marat Safin (Russia) 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 7-6 (7-5); Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) bt Lu Yen-hsun (Taiwan) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4; Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) bt Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1; Juergen Melzer (Austria) bt Michael Llodra (France) 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5); Ivo Minar (Czech Republic) bt Olivier Rochus (Belgium) 6-3, 6-2; Julien Benneteau (France) bt Rainer Schuettler (Germany) 1-6, 6-1, 6-2; Dudi Sela (Israel) bt Lee Hyung-taik (South Korea) 6-4, 6-3; Viktor Troicki (Serbia) bt Victor Hanescu (Romania) 6-4, 6-1.

Women’s singles: First round: Peng Shuai (China) bt Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) 1-1 – Daniilidou retired; Aleksandra Wozniak (Canada) bt Aravane Rezai (France) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3; Zheng Jie (China) bt Galina Voskoboeva (Russia) 6-2, 7-6 (7-3); Sabine Lisicki (Germany) bt Coco Vandeweghe (US) 6-4, 7-5; Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) bt Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) 6-1, 6-2; Tathiana Garbin (Italy) bt Melanie Oudin (US) 7-5, 2-6, 6-1; Camille Pin (France) bt Olga Savchuk (Ukraine) 6-1, 7-5; Emilie Loit (France) bt Virginia Ruano (Spain) 7-6 (7-1), 6-4; Sofia Arvidsson (Sweden) bt Tatiana Poutchek (Belarus) 6-4, 6-3; Milagros Sequera (Venezuela) bt Yaroslava Shvedova (Russia) 6-3, 6-4.—Agencies