GSTAAD, (Switzerland), July 8: Michel Kratochvil, who took Tim Henman to five sets at Wimbledon last week, crashed out on the opening day of the 600,000-dollar Swiss Open Monday.

The 23-year-old was upset on the high-altitude clay by young Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who scored a 6-2, 6-4 win on a sunny alpine day.

Gstaad’s position 1,080 meters above sea level makes clay play similar to a hard court, but Kratochvil could not continue the momentum he brought home from the All England club.

“I got here late last week and it was raining,” said the 23-year-old. “I didn’t get much time to practise. This loss was a big disappointment.

“It was worse than Wimbledon, at least there my game was going up. Today, I never got started.”

Youzhny, who turned 20 last week, also reached the last 16 at Wimbledon, going out in straight sets to eventual winner Lleyton Hewitt.

The youngest player in the draw was in control from the start against the Swiss, but faltered in the closing stages before taking victory.

The Russian needed four match points to finally close out the match in his first ever meeting against Kratochvil, advancing in 1hr 27min.

“This is so different from the grass last week,” Youzhny said. “There, it was just a few shots per point. Here, you need at least ten or 20.”

The 32-man tournament features three Grand Slam finalists, with French Open champion and top seed Albert Costa playing for the first time since his triumph at Roland Garros last month over Spaniash compatriot Juan Carlos Ferrero, seeded second.

Also on hand, eighth seed Alex Corretja, a two-time Gstaad winner and Paris semifinals lose to Costa, his best mate on the ATP.

In other first-round matches, Croatian Ivan Ljubicic knocked out Argentina Juan Chela 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-4 while a pair of Spaniards advanced.

Results:

(First round): Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) beat Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) 7-6 (7-3), 3-6 6-4; Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) beat Michel Kratochvil (Switzerland) 6-2 6-4; Felix Mantilla (Spain) beat Adrian Voinea (Romania) 6-3 6-4; David Sanchez (Spain) beat Anthony Dupuis (France) 6-2 6-1

BRUSSELS: Results from the first round of the WTA Women’s French Community Championships in Brussels on Monday: Myriam Casanova (Switzerland) beat Cristina Torrens Valero (Spain) 7-6 6-2 Silvija Talaja (Croatia) beat Aniko Kapros (Hungary) 7-5 6-1 Libuse Prusova (Czech Republic) beat Tatiana Poutchek (Belarus) 6-3 6-1—AFP/Reuters