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VIENNA, Oct 12: Olympic champion Nicolas Massu overcame his Vienna jinx, but only after losing a long lead and a becoming involved in a struggle of almost three hours against a qualifier in the first round of the 682,750-euro ATP tournament on Tuesday.
The second seeded Chilean won 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4 against Karol Kucera, a finalist here back in 1998, but let slip an advantage of a set and 4-1 and almost went a break down in the final set before winning for the first time in four attempts in the Austrian capital.
Towards the end of the second set he appeared to crack the frame of a racket after throwing it down, several times he shouted "vamos" urgently to himself, and early in the final set he put his hands to his mouth and roared.
Part of Massu's frustration stemmed partly from the indifferent game he played in the seventh of the second set to allow Kucera's break back. Some of it though was caused by the subtle rhythms of the experienced Slovakian's ground strokes - slow, slow, quick, slow, with no discernable pattern and mixed in with craftily stolen approaches to the net.
FIRST ROUND RESULTS:
Nicolas Massu bt Karol Kucera (SVK) 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4; Luis Horna (PER) bt David Ferrer (SPA) 6-3, 6-2.
MOSCOW: Results of matches played in the Kremlin Cup tennis on Tuesday.
FIRST ROUND RESULTS
MEN
Karol Beck bt Ivo Heuberger 6-4 6-4;Cyril Saulnier bat Andrei Stoliarov 6-4 5-7 7-6 (8-6); Mikhail Youzhny bt Marc Rosset 4-6 6-3 6-2; Dominik Hrbaty bat Thomas Johansson 6-4 4-6 6-3; Nikolay Davydenko bt Serhiy Stakhovsky 6-0 6-3; Kenneth Carlsen bt Kristian Pless 6-0 6-4/
WOMEN
Sandra Mamic bt Mary Pierce 6-0 6-4; Elena Bovina bt Daniela Hantuchova 6-2 6-3; Elena Likhovtseva bt Fabiola Zuluaga 6-1 6-2; Elena Dementieva bt Patty Schnyder 6-2 6-3; Vera Zvonareva bt Nathalie Dechy 6-0 6-2; Karolina Sprem bt Anna Smashnova 6-1 6-3; Michaela Pastikova bt Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-2 7-5; Nadia Petrova bt Paola Suarez 7-5 6-4. -Agencies
