Tue Jul 10 17:53:31 2007

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Ferrer, Soderling win Bastad openers

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Bastad, Sweden (Sports Network) - Second-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer and sixth-seeded Swede Robin Soderling were among Tuesday's first-round winners at the clay-court Swedish Open.

Ferrer drilled fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-1, while Soderling dismissed Italian Simone Bolelli 6-3, 6-3 at Bastad Tennis Stadium. Ferrer's second-round opponent will be Chilean Nicolas Massu, while Soderling will encounter Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.

Two other seeds advanced, as No. 7 Argentine Juan Monaco snuck past Latvian Ernests Gulbis 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 6-4 and No. 8 Swede Jonas Bjorkman overcame Polish qualifier Michal Przysiezny 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 at this post-Wimbledon event.

Former Aussie Open champion Thomas Johansson of Sweden handled Spaniard Oscar Hernandez 6-4, 6-4, while the aforementioned Verdasco vaulted past Norwegian qualifier Erling Tveit 7-5, 6-1.

Additional Day-2 wins came for Argentine Carlos Berlocq, Russian qualifier Yuri Schukin and French qualifier Gilles Simon. Schukin took out former two- time Bastad titlist Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina 6-1, 1-6, 7-5.