NEW HAVEN (Connecticut), Aug 20: Fifth seed Patty Schnyder lost on the opening day of the WTA event here on Sunday, beaten 7-6, 2-6, 6-4 by Italian Francesca Schiavone. The Swiss looked set for victory when she recovered from the loss of the first set to level the match but Schiavone, the world No 26, hit back to reach round two.

She will play Emilie Loit of France or lucky loser Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in the second round.

In the day’s other women’s match, American Vania King beat another Italian, Tathiana Garbin, 6-4, 6-4 to set up a clash with Russian fourth seed Dinara Safina.In the men’s event, American wildcard Donald Young earned his first win on the ATP Tour by beating compatriot Amer Delic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the first round.

The reward for 18-year-old Young is a second-round match against top seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia.

Another American wildcard, Mardy Fish, also advanced with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 win over German Florian Meyer, and there were victories for Americans Robby Ginepri and Michael Russell and former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson of Sweden.

Croatian Mario Ancic continued his comeback after a lengthy spell out with glandular fever by beating American Ryan Sweeting to qualify for the main draw.

Ancic rejected a wildcard into the main draw in order to get some more match practice going into the US Open.

Sunday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

First round: Robby Ginepri (US) beat Nicolas Massu (Chile) 7-6 (7-1), 6-4; Feliciano Lopez (Spain) beat Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-2); Marc Gicquel (France) beat Carlos Berlocq (Argentina) 6-2, 6-4; Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; Mardy Fish (US) beat Florian Mayer (Germany) 4-6, 7-5, 6-4; Michael Russell (US) beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 3-6, 6-4, 6-0; Thomas Johansson (Sweden) beat Kristof Vliegen (Belgium) 6-2, 6-1; Donald Young (US) beat Amer Delic (US) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Women’s singles:

First round: Francesca Schiavone (Italy) beat 5-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-4; Vania King (US) beat Tathiana Garbin (Italy) 6-4, 6-4.—Reuters