MONTREAL, Aug 5: Arnaud Clement and Simon Larose caused the first upsets of the $2.45 million Montreal Masters on Monday with respective victories over Carlos Moya and Gustavo Kuerten in opening round matches.

Clement, the French world number 33, contained the fourth seeded Spaniard’s strength from the baseline with a string of stunning volleys to move into the last 32 with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 victory.

The centre court crowd witnessed a second shock win when Canadian wildcard Larose — the world number 314 — battled hard to oust the 13th-seeded Brazilian 7-5, 7-6.

However, top seed and world number one Andre Agassi was in no mood to be part of an upset as he eased to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Canada’s Frederic Niemeyer, another wildcard.

Monday’s results:

First round: 1-Andre Agassi (US) beat Frederic Niemeyer (Canada) 6-4, 6-2; Arnaud Clement (France) beat 4-Carlos Moya (Spain) 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-3; 8-Rainer Schuettler (Germany) beat Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 6-2, 6-4; 11-Paradorn Srichaphan (Thailand) beat Alberto Martin (Spain) 6-0, 7-6 (7-5); Sebastien Larose (Canada) beat 13-Gustavo Kuerten (Brazil) 7-5, 7-6 (7-2); Jose Acasuso (Argentina) beat Fabrice Santoro (France) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4; Juan Chela (Argentina) beat Agustin Calleri (Argentina) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3; Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) beat Ramon Delgado (Paraguay) 7-6 (7-0), 7-6 (7-3); Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) beat Scott Draper (Australia) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4; Karol Beck (Slovakia) beat Michael Llodra (France) 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-3), 6-1; Greg Rusedski (Britain) beat Nicolas Lapentti (Ecuador) 7-5, 6-3; Younes El Aynaoui (Morocco) beat Mardy Fish (US) 6-3, 6-7 (8-10), 6-3; James Blake (US) beat Radek Stepanek (Czevh Republic) 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.

LOIT ADVANCES

LOS ANGELES (California): France’s Emilie Loit and Russian youngster Maria Sharapova were among unseeded players to advance as the 635,000-dollar WTA Tour event got underway here on Monday.

Monday’s results:

First round: Rita Grande (Italy) beat Janette Husarova (Slovakia) 6-3, 5-7, 6-4; Emilie Loit (France) beat Cho Yoon Jeong (South Korea) 6-3, 6-2; Saori Obata (Japan) beat Virginie Razzano (France) 2-6, 6-2, 6-3; Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat Katarina Srebotnik (Slovakia) 6-3, 6-1; Tara Snyder (US) beat Marion Bartoli (France) 6-3, 4-2 — retired; Shinobu Asagoe (Japan) beat Els Callens (Belgium) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) beat Akiko Morigami (Japan) 6-1, 6-1; Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) beat Mary Pierce (France) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3; Arantxa Parra (Spain) beat Angela Haynes (US) 6-1, 6-4.—Reuters/AFP