ESTORIL ( Portugal), May 2: Marat Safin admitted he was still struggling with his confidence despite battling to a first-round win over Italian qualifier Fabio Fognini on Tuesday at the Estoril Open. The former world number one suffered a debilitating knee injury last year that kept him out of the game for seven months. “I'm here, I'm trying to play and win as many matches as possible,” said the 26-year-old after overcoming the world number 314, 6-1, 6-4 on the Portuguese clay.

Former champion Carlos Moya breezed to an opening-round victory over Flavio Saretta 6-3, 6-4 before singing the praises of his all-conquering Spanish protege Rafael Nadal.

The Spanish veteran, who paved the way for his country's current tennis armada with the 1998 French Open crown, 14 other clay court titles and world number one status in 1999, has been in poor form recently.

But after losing in the first round in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, the 29-year-old hopes his game is back on track after several bumps.

In the women's WTA draw, second seed Gisela Dulko of Argentina started with a win over China's Zi Yan 6-4, 6-4 while Spanish third seed Lourdes Dominguez Lino advanced over Magail De Lattre of Portugal 6-1, 6-2.

Results:

Women (first round): Lourdes Dominguez Lino bt Magail De Lattre 6-1, 6-2; Emilie Loit bt Frederica Piedade 6-1, 6-2; Natalia Gussoni bt Eva Birnerova 6-3, 6-3; Laura Pous Tio bt Maria Vento-Kabchi 6-0, 6-0; Zuzana Ondraskova bt Maria Elena Camerin 6-3, 6-3; Kaia Kanepi bt Stephanie Foretz 6-4, 6-1; Eleni Daniilidou bt Bethanie Mattek 7-5, 6-4; Gisela Dulko bt Zi Yan 6-4, 6-4

Men (first round): Gael Monfils bt Razvan Sabau 6-1, 6-2; Jeremy Chardy bt Yau-Tzuoo Wang 7-5, 6-1; Carlos Moya bt Flavio Saretta 6-3, 6-4; Nicolas Lapentti bt Michal Przysiezny 6-7 (3/7), 6-4, 6-4; Frederico Gil bt David Luque 1-6, 7-6, (7/5), 6-4; Carlos Berlocq bt Didac Perez 6-0, 6-1; Marat Safin bt Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-4.—AFP