July 23, 2008	Wednesday	Rajab 19, 1429

TORONTO, July 22: Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic was the only seeded player to fall on a rain-interrupted opening day of the Toronto Masters on Monday.

Spain’s Feliciano Lopez proved to be Stepanek’s conqueror, beating the 11th seed 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, on a day that was without draw cards Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in singles action.

All three, who are launching their North American hardcourt campaigns in Toronto, have been granted first round byes in the $2.6 million tournament.

Djokovic will open his title defence on Tuesday with a second round match against Canada’s Frank Dancevic.

While the men’s top three did not play on Monday, five other seeds advanced to the second round with ninth-seeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka beating the rain that delayed play for almost two hours with a 6-4, 7-6 victory over Italy’s Simone Bolelli.

Wawrinka was joined in the second round by 10th seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who disposed of Davis Cup team mate Michael Llodra 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

Spanish 12th-seed Tommy Robredo, 14th-seed Fernando Gonzalez of Chile and 15th-seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia all advanced with straight set victories.

Gonzalez, winner of two clay court events this season, outclassed France’s Julien Benneteau 6-2, 6-1 while Robredo brushed past Canadian wildcard Frederic Niemeyer 7-6, 6-1 and Youzhny beat Italy’s Andreas Seppi 7-6, 6-2.

Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer and France’s Arnaud Clement also battled their way to first round wins.

Kiefer beat American Mardy Fish 7-5, 7-6 while Clement outlasted Colombia’s Alejandro Falla 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.

Monday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

First round: Feliciano Lopez (Spain) bt 11-Radek Stepanek (Czech

Republic) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4; Jose Acasuso (Argentina) bt Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) 6-7 (1-7), 6-3, 7-5; 15-Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) bt Andreas Seppi (Italy) 7-6 (7-1), 6-2; Frank Dancevic (Canada) bt Mario Ancic (Croatia) 6-3, 6-4; Nicolas Mahut (France) bt Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2; Robby Ginepri (US) bt Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; 14-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) bt Julien Benneteau (France) 6-2, 6-1; 10-Richard Gasquet (France) bt Michael Llodra (France) 6-2, 4-6, 6-3; Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) bt Mardy Fish (US) 7-5 7-6 (7-4); 9-Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) bt Simone Bolelli (Italy) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4); 12-Tommy

Robredo (Spain) bt Frederic Niemeyer (Canada) 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.

STOSUR DOWNS PEER

LOS ANGELES: Unseeded Australian Samantha Stosur scored the biggest upset in the opening round of the Los Angeles Classic on Monday, easing to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over 12th seeded Israeli Shahar Peer.

The higher ranked players begin their campaigns later in the week leaving the lower seeds a chance to shine on the opening day and while Sybille Bammer and Sania Mirza enjoyed routine wins, Virginie Razzano joined Peer as one of the early surprise losers.

The 13th seeded Frenchwoman was beaten 6-3, 6-3 by Hungary’s Melinda Czink.

Continuing the fine form that carried her to the quarter-finals of last week’s Stanford Classic, Stosur battered Peer with huge serves, forehands and aggressive returns in an impressive display of power tennis.

Peer, who reached a career-high world ranking of 15 in January 2007, has now lost six out of her last eight matches and looked sluggish against Stosur, her shots often lacking both direction and power.

Austria’s Bammer, the 14th seed, moved on with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over American qualifier Ahsha Rolle and India’s 16th seed Sania Mirza shrugged off her recent wrist problems to score a 6-3, 6-4 triumph against Czech qualifier Eva Hrdinova.

Marta Domachowska of Poland, American Jill Craybas, Olga Govortsova of Belarus and Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan were among eight of the other players to advance on Monday.

World No 2 Jelena Jankovic is the tournament’s top seed followed by Wimbledon finalist Serena Williams of the US.

Results:

First round: 16-Sania Mirza (India) bt Eva Hrdinova (Czech Republic) 6-3, 6-4; Melinda Czink (Hungary) bt 13-Virginie Razzano (France) 6-3, 6-3; Samantha Stosur (Australia) bt 12-Shahar Peer (Israel) 6-1, 6-1; Bethanie Mattek (US) bt Abigail Spears (US) 6-2, 6-4; Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) bt Alisa Kleybanova (Russia) 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 14-Sybille Bammer (Austria) bt Ahsha Rolle (US) 6-0, 6-4; Marta Domachowska (Poland) bt Coco Vandeweghe (US) 6-3, 6-3; Jill Craybas (US) bt Anne Keothavong (Britain) 6-3, 6-2; Olga Govortsova (Belarus) bt Darya Kustova (Belarus) 6-3, 6-4; Chan Yung-jan (Taiwan) bt Aravane Rezai (France) 6-1, 6-4; Olga Savchuk (Ukraine) bt Gisela Dulko (Argentina) 6-4, 6-3; Tamira Paszek (Austria) bt Aiko Nakamura (Japan) 6-4, 6-2.—Reuters