ATLANTA: Sam Querrey put aside his partnership with doubles team-mate Steve Johnson to start his Atlanta Open with a 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 win on Monday.

The two Americans will play doubles at the tournament and drew each other in singles for the first time in their careers.

The opening day was a light one but Israeli Dudi Sela avenged a loss to Donald Young in his previous Atlanta Open four years ago, thrashing the American 6-3, 6-0.

Querrey and Sela will meet in the second round with the winner in line to face Canadian fourth seed Vasek Pospisil in the quarter-finals.

The top five-ranked American men are in the Atlanta field.

Defending champion John Isner, ranked No. 12 in the world, had a bye Monday as the top seed.

The third-seeded Gael Monfils, withdrew Sunday, citing a knee injury. Fellow Frenchman Richard Gasquet also was a late withdrawal.

Tournament director Eddie Gonzalez was critical of Monfils and Gasquet for withdrawing so late.

“They will be fined heavily [by the United States Tennis Association],” Gonzalez said. “We can’t build a whole campaign, and then have them disappoint our Atlanta fan base.”

Monfils, who has been nagged by a right knee injury, was replaced in the draw by New Zealand qualifier Michael Venus.

TROICKI MAKES VICTORIOUS RETURN

GSTAAD (Switzerland): Viktor Troicki made the most of his return to tennis after serving a one-year ban as the Serb defeated Austria’s Dominic Thiem 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 on Monday to reach the second round of the Swiss Open.

Troicki took down eighth seed Thiem, tipped as a name of the future, with the win helping to boost the Serb’s fragile confidence after being granted a wild card entry after seeing his ranking plummet following his suspension.

Troicki, now 847th in the world, receieved a 12-month ban for delaying a mandatory blood test at Monte Carlo in April 2013 by a day, saying he felt ill.

Despite having blood drawn a day later, he was banned for a year amid protest from Serbian Davis Cup team-mate Novak Djokovic.

In the Round of 16, Troicki will face Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan who rallied to beat qualifier Inigo Cervantes of Spain 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).

Argentine fifth seed Federico Delbonis began with a victory on a day where play was delayed by rain, beating German Dustin Brown 6-3, 6-3.

Juan Monaco was another Argentine to win, 6-4, 7-5 against Victor Hanescu of Romania, the 2008 champion at Gstaad.

JOVANOVSKI ADVANCES

BAKU (Azerbaijan): Fifth-seeded Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia survived a scare against Patricia Mayr-Achleitner of Austria, winning 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 on Monday to advance to the second round of the Baku Cup.

Also on Monday, Shahar Peer of Israel ousted sixth-seeded Yvonne Meusburger of Austria 6-2, 6-4 at Baku Tennis Academy.

Other first-round winners included Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland, Katarzyna Piter of Poland, Urszula Radwanska of Poland and Pauline Parmentier of France.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd , 2014