NEWPORT (Rhode Island), July 7 US top seed Mardy Fish withdrew and fourth seed Benjamin Becker of Germany was knocked out on Monday during the first day of the 500,000-dollar ATP Hall of Fame Championships.

Andy Roddick withdrew from this week's US Davis Cup quarter-final tie at Croatia, prompting Fish to be called upon to replace him and thus skip the final grass-court tournament of the season.

American Brendan Evans pulled the first upset of the event by eliminating Becker 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 7-5. Evans will next face countryman Robby Ginepri, who defeated Spain's Santiago Ventura 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.

The early exits left Germany's Philipp Petzschner, the sixth seed, as the top-ranked player in his half of the draw at 55th in the world.

The event's remaining highest seeds are defending champion Fabrice Santoro, the 36-year-old French second seed seeking an unprecedented third consecutive Newport title, and number three Sam Querrey of the US.

Santoro, who did not drop a set in last year's title run, opens against Italy's Flavio Cipolla and faces a possible second-round match against US wild card Taylor Dent, who defeated Brazil's Marcos Daniel 6-2, 6-1.

Indian wild card Prakash Amritraj opened with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Thailand's Danai Udomchoke. Amritraj could face Querrey in the second round.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding)

First round Daniel Brands (Germany) bt Vince Spadea (US) 6-0, 6-4; Robby Ginepri (US) bt Santiago Ventura (Spain) 6-2, 1-6, 6-4; Taylor Dent (US) bt Marcos Daniel (Brazil) 6-2, 6-1; Brendan Evans (US) bt 4-Benjamin Becker (Germany) 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-5; Jesse Levine (US) bt Chris Guccione (Australia) 7-6(2), 7-6(2); Prakash Amritraj (India) bt Danai Udomchoke (Thailand) 6-1, 6-4.

PAVLYUCHENKOVA, CIRSTEA WIN

BASTAD (Sweden) Fifth-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania beat Swedish wild card Johanna Larsson 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the first round of the Swedish Open on Monday.

Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also advanced to the second round of the clay-court WTA tournament, coming from one set down to defeat US veteran Jill Craybas 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in a rain-delayed match.

Results

First round 8-Iveta Benesova (CzechRepublic) bt Urszula Radwanska

(Poland) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2; 6-Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) bt Jill Craybas (US) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3; 5-Sorana Cirstea (Romania) bt Johanna Larsson (Sweden) 4-6, 6-2, 7-5; Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) bt Karin Knapp (Italy) 6-1, 6-1; 7-Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) bt Lenka Wienerova (Slovakia) 6-0, 7-5; Gisela Dulko (Argentina) bt Marta Domachowska (Poland) 6-4, 6-0.

BONDARENKO ADVANCES

BUDAPEST (Hungary) Sixth-seeded Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine defeated Karolina Sprem of Croatia 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the first round of the $220,000 GDF Suez Grand Prix on Monday.

Bondarenko broke Sprem's serve at 1-1 in the first set and later jumped out to a 4-2 lead but the Croatian came back to win four games in a row to take the set.

Sprem took a 3-1 lead in the second set but this time it was Bondarenko who won four consecutive games to even up the match.

Sprem began the decisive set by winning her own service game but that was as far as she got, as Bondarenko won six straight games to win the match.

Results

First round Edina Gallovits (Romania) bt Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) 7-5, 6-2; 6-Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) bt Karolina Sprem (Croatia) 4-6, 7-5, 6-1; Maria Elena Camerin (Italy) bt Lourdes Dominguez Lino (Spain) 4-6, 6-0, 6-1.—Agencies