LOS ANGELES, Aug 6: Former world No 1 Marat Safin began his bid to end a title drought dating back almost two years with a confident 6-3, 6-4 win over American John Isner at the Los Angeles Classic on Tuesday.

The Russian, ranked 44th after his semi-final run at Wimbledon, broke his opponent once in each set to take his place in the last 16 where he will face another American, Wayne Odesnik, a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 victor over compatriot Bobby Reynolds.

“After two weeks when I lost in the second and first rounds, and against an opponent like Isner, who is not easy to play, I was pretty solid,” Safin told reporters.

The 6ft-9in (2.05m) Isner fell into trouble early and saved two break points in the second game, but Safin secured the break two games later thanks to a successful Hawk-Eye appeal.

Safin, who was ranked 75th before Wimbledon, cruised through the rest of the set and then broke in the opening game of the second.

Isner had one chance, a break point at 5-4 down, but Safin closed the door with a stunning backhand pass before clinching victory when the American lashed a forehand return long.

Safin said his immediate aim was to earn as many points as possible this week and then in Washington next week in a bid to to be among the 32 seeds at the US Open later this month.

“I have a chance [to be seeded] and that’s my goal. It’s a huge difference if you are seeded at the US Open or not, because you can play Rafael Nadal in the first round.

“I think I am playing pretty well. For this first match, it was a pretty good performance. I just need to stay aggressive and move on from here.”

Eighth seed Tommy Haas of Germany was a surprise first-round casualty, going down 6-2, 6-4 under the lights to American Donald Young.

The two-time champion produced a strangely listless performance, making a host of unforced errors to hand Young his first win in five matches.

Seventh seed Carlos Moya also struggled, but came through a tough clash with Belgian Xavier Malisse, recovering from a break down in the third set to win 6-2, 1-6, 7-6, finally clinching victory on his eighth match point.

Veteran American Vince Spadea won a topsy-turvy match with Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to set up a second round clash against sixth seed Mardy Fish.

Serbian lucky-loser Dusan Vemic will play top seed Andy Roddick in round two after he fought back to beat American Sam Warburg 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 and there were also wins for Italian Andrea Stoppini and another American, qualifier Amer Delic.

Tuesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

First round: 7-Carlos Moya (Spain) bt Xavier Malisse (Belgium) 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5); Donald Young (US) bt 8-Tommy Haas (Germany) 6-2, 6-4; 5-Marat Safin (Russia) bt John Isner (US) 6-3, 6-4; Amer Delic (US) bt Dudi Sela (Israel) 6-4, 6-4; Dusan Vemic (Serbia) bt Sam Warburg (US) 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4; Vince Spadea (US) bt Sebastien Grosjean (France) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Wayne Odesnik (US) bt Bobby Reynolds (US) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; Andrea Stoppini (Italy) bt Igor Kunitsyn (Russia) 6-1, 6-3.—Reuters