July 10, 2008	Thursday	Rajab 6, 1429

STUTTGART (Germany), July 9: Sixth-seeded Agustin Calleri beat Jurgen Melzer of Austria 7-6 (3), 6-4 to advance to the second round of the rain-plagued Stuttgart Cup on Tuesday.

Calleri was making his first appearance in Stuttgart since 1999, and will play fellow South American Pablo Cuevas next to try and reach his seventh quarter-finals of the season.

Fellow Argentine, No 8-seeded Eduardo Schwank rallied back from a first-set blanking to beat 2003 champion and countryman Guillermo Coria 0-6, 6-1, 6-2.

In a battle of qualifiers, Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic beat Martin Fischer of Austria 6-2, 6-4. Qualifier Yuri Schukin of Kazakhstan rallied to defeat Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.

The 188th-ranked Rosol next faces second-seeded Richard Gasquet of France, the tournament favourite following the withdrawal of defending champion Rafael Nadal.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding):

First round: 6-Agustin Calleri (Argentina) bt Juergen Melzer (Austria) 7-6(3), 6-4 Lukas Rosol (Czech Republic) bt Martin Fischer (Austria) 6-2, 6-4.

MEFFERT’S FIRST WIN

GSTAAD (Switzerland): Dominik Meffert won his first ATP Tour match of the year

on Tuesday, upsetting And-

reas Seppi of Italy 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in the first round of the Swiss Open.

The 27-year-old German, ranked a career high 162nd, had to win two qualifying matches to reach the main draw of the $625,000 event.

The fifth-seeded Seppi was runner-up in Gstaad last year and reached the semi-finals of the Hamburg Masters Series in May, losing to Roger Federer in two sets.

In the second round, Meffert will play Jeremy Chardy of France, who beat Luis Horna of Peru 7-6 (5), 6-7 (6), 7-5. Sixth-seeded Nicolas Kiefer of Germany eased past Gianluca Naso of Italy 6-3, 6-2.

Top-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka has a bye to the second round, where he will face Stephane Bohli.

Defending champion and second-seeded Paul-Henri Mathieu will play Marin Cilic of Croatia in the second round.

Results:

First round: Stephane Bohli (Switzerland) bt Robin Roshardt (Switzerland) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4; Jeremy Chardy (France) bt Luis Horna (Peru) 7-6(5), 6-7(6), 7-5; Flavio Cipolla (Italy) bt Jiri Vanek (Czech Republic) 5-7, 6-4, 6-4; Dominik Meffert (Germany) bt 5-Andreas Seppi (Italy) 6-2, 5-7, 6-4; 6-Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) bt Gianluca Naso (Italy) 6-3, 6-2; Victor Hanescu (Romania) bt Olivier

Patience (France) 7-6(4), 6-2.

SAFIN BEATS LOPEZ

BASTAD (Sweden): Marat Safin did just enough to beat Spaniard Marc Lopez at the Swedish Open on Tuesday, winning 7-6, 7-5 in two hours 20 minutes to set up a second-round meeting with Italian Potito Starace.

The former world number one, who last week reached the Wimbledon semi-finals before losing to Roger Federer, clinched the first-set tiebreak 8-6 on the Swedish clay after a rare double fault by Lopez.

In the second set the double Grand Slam winner looked more comfortable and played more aggressively against the Spaniard, breaking him to go 6-5 up.

Starace earlier defeated Spain’s Carlos Moya, the 2002 winner and fifth seed, with a gritty 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 win.

Results:

First round: Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) bt Marcel Granollers (Spain) 6-3, 6-1; 8-Robin Soderling (Sweden) bt Fabio Fognini (Italy) 6-1, 6-7(4), 7-5; Ervin Eleskovic (Sweden) bt Filippo Volandri (Italy) 6-4, 6-4; Marat Safin (Russia) bt Marc Lopez (Spain) 7-6(6), 7-5; Potito Starace (Italy) bt 5-Carlos Moya (Spain) 6-7(4), 7-6(6), 6-4; Thomas Johansson (Sweden) bt Filip Prpic (Sweden) 7-6(4), 6-3; Steve Darcis (Belgium) bt Daniel Koellerer (Austria) 7-6(4), 6-0; Michael Ryderstedt (Sweden) bt Tim Goransson (Sweden) 6-1, 6-2; Olivier Rochus (Belgium) bt Marc Gicquel (France) 6-3, 6-4; 7-Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) bt Sergio Roitman (Argentina) 6-4, 6-2.—Agencies