CARLSBAD (California), July 17; Sixth seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia lost 6-4, 7-5 Poland’s Ursula Radwanska in the first round of the Carlsbad Open on Monday.

Hantuchova made an unforced error when she sent a forehand long to give the match to Radwanska.

Hantuchova, who has had an inconsistent season marked by a left foot injury that caused her to miss more than a month, dropped the first set when Radwanska registered the only service break in the fifth game.

Radwanska, the younger sister of world No 2 Agnieszka Radwanska, traded service breaks with Hantuchova early in the second set.

Radwanska broke serve again for a 5-4 lead before winning the match on her next service game.

Earlier, Varvara Lepchenko cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 win over fellow-American Nicole Gibbs.

Japan’s Misaki Doi profited from a meltdown by Michelle Larcher de Brito. The Portuguese player smashed a racquet after losing 6-7, 6-1, 6-3.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding):

First round: Urszula Radwanska (Poland) bt 6-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 6-4, 7-5; Varvara Lepchenko (US) bt Nicole Gibbs (US) 6-3, 6-1; Misaki Doi (Japan) bt Michelle Larcher de Brito (Portugal) 6-7 (6-8), 6-1, 6-3; Alexa Glatch (US) bt Lauren Davis (US) 6-3, 6-2. SOCK UPSETS BOGOMOLOV

ATLANTA (Georgia): American wild card Jack Sock defeated seventh seed Alex Bogomolov 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in the opening round of the Atlanta Open on Monday.

The 19-year-old Sock converted two of his three break points while saving six of the seven chances he faced on serve in the two hour, 15 minute match.

Russia’s Bogomolov has now lost five consecutive matches and falls to 9-21 on the season.

In other matches, Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller posted his 100th singles win by hammering 14 aces past Australian Marinko Matosevic for a 7-6, 6-4 victory.

Results:

First round: Igor Kunitsyn (Russia) bt Brian Baker (US) 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 6-3; Nicolas Mahut (France) bt Paul Capdeville (Chile) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; Steve Johnson (US) bt Donald Young (US) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; 5-Kevin Anderson (South Africa) bt Paolo Lorenzi (Italy) 6-4, 6-3; Gilles Muller (Luxembourg) bt Marinko Matosevic (Australia) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4; Jack Sock (US) bt 7-Alex Bogomolov Jr (Russia) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

SCARE FOR DEFENDING CHAMPION

HAMBURG: Defending champion Gilles Simon suffered a scare in the first round of the German Open in Hamburg as he was pushed to the limit by Argentina’s Carlos Berlocq.

Second seed Simon dropped the first set against Berlocq and had to squeeze through a tight second set tie-break before recovering to win 4-6, 7-6, 6-1.

Russian veteran Nikolay Davydenko also faced a battle before dispatching Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 5-7, 6-4, 6-0 in a match lasting two minutes under two hours.

Dutchman Robin Haase saw off Germany’s Matthias Bachinger 6-4, 6-2 while qualifiers Federico Delbonis and Daniel Munoz-De La Nava saw off Tommy Robredo and Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo respectively.

Results:

First round: Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) bt Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) 5-7, 6-4, 6-0; Robin Haase (Netherlands) bt Matthias Bachinger (Germany) 6-4, 6-2; 2-Gilles Simon (France) bt Carlos Berlocq (Argentina) 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1; Daniel Munoz (Spain) bt Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (Spain) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3; Federico Delbonis (Argentina) bt Tommy Robredo (Spain) 5-7, 6-0, 6-1.—Agencies

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