HAMBURG, May 15: Marat Safin earned a torturous 7-6 (7), 6-4 victory over Nicolas Massu while Marcos Baghdatis slumped to his fourth opening-round defeat in five Masters events this year at the Hamburg Masters on Monday.
The 14th-seeded Baghdatis lost to German wild card Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-5, 6-3.
Safin rarely wins a match without resorting to drama, and it took him two fluctuating hours before he finally earned a second-round clash with former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Safin swept to a 4-0 lead, then the Chilean qualifier claimed the next five games, and the tempestuous Russian received a warning for racket abuse before holding serve to take the set to a tiebreaker.
Safin held off a set point and won the last three points for the set at 9-7, then moved a break up at 3-1 in the second, during which Massu repeatedly hurled his racket to the ground.
Safin led 5-2, failed to convert a match point at 5-3, and finally closed out the match when Massu double-faulted and then made a forehand error.
France's Richard Gasquet, who reached the final here two years ago, beat Argentina's Gaston Gaudio 6-1, 6-4. Gaudio, the 2004 French Open champ, has won just five of 15 matches this year.
Ferrero, seeded 15th, withstood a strong second-set challenge from Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka 6-1, 7-6 (5), and another former No. 1, Lleyton Hewitt, declared himself satisfied with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Agustin Calleri of Argentina.
Results (x denotes seeding):
First round: Arnaud Clement (FRA) bt Radek Stepanek (CZE) 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3; Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) bt Olivier Rochus (BEL) 6-1, 7-6 (7/5); Richard Gasquet (FRA x11) bt Gaston Gaudio (ARG) 6-1, 6-4; Juan Monaco (ARG) bt Dominik Hrbaty (SVK) 6-2, 6-2; Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP x15) bt Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) 6-1, 7-6 (7/5); Nicolas Almagro (ESP) bt Martin Verkerk (NED) 6-1, 6-3; Gilles Simon (FRA) bt Marc Gicquel (FRA) 6-1, 6-0; Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG) bt Guillermo Canas (ARG) 6-1, 4-6, 6-1; Florent Serra (FRA) bt Simone Bolelli (ITA) 6-7 (3/7), 6-2, 6-2; Igor Andreev (RUS) bt Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) 6-2, 1-0 retired; Lleyton Hewitt (AUS x16) bt Agustin Calleri (ARG) 6-3, 6-4; Robin Soderling (SWE) bt Robby Ginepri 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; David Ferrer (ESP x12) bt Jonas Bjorkman (SWE) 6-4, 3-6, 6-2; Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) bt Marcos Baghdatis (CYP x14) 7-5, 6-3; Tomas Berdych (CZE x10) bt Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 7-6 (8/6), 6-4; Marat Safin (RUS) bt Nicolas Massu (CHI) 7-6 (9/7), 6-4.
HANTUCHOVA INTO SECOND ROUND
ROME: Ninth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova rallied to beat French qualifier Aravane Rezai 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 on Monday in the first round of the Italian Open.
Other seeds advancing were No. 11 Shahar Peer of Israel, who was leading 6-0, 2-0 when Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska retired due to an injury to her right wrist, and 10th-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia, who dispatched Italy's Maria Elena Camerin 6-1, 6-2.
Results:
First round: Elena Dementieva (RUS x10) bt Maria Elena Camerin (ITA) 6-1, 6-2; Alona Bondarenko (UKR) bt Tiantian Sun (CHN) 6-7 (6/8), 7-5, 6-2; Shahar Peer (ISR) bt Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 6-0, 2-0 ret; Karolina Sprem (CRO) bt Eleni Danilidou (GRE) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3; Daniela Hantuchova (SVK x9) bt Aravane Rezai (FRA) 4-6, 6-1, 6-2; Catalina Castano (COL) bt Karin Knapp (ITA) 6-1, 7-5; Michaella Krajicek (NED) bt Olga Poutchkova (RUS) 6-1, 6-2; Galina Vaskoboeva (RUS) bt Alberta Brianti (ITA) 6-2, 6-3; Meghann Shaughnessy (US) bt Emilie Loit (FRA) 6-3, 6-2; Tamira Paszek (AUT) bt Nicole Pratt (AUS) 6-7 (1/7), 6-0, 6-2; Ai Sugiyama (JPN) bt Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 6-4, 5-7, 7-5.—Agencies