Mon Oct 13 17:52:13 2008

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Fish, Robredo win Madrid Masters openers

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Madrid, Spain (Sports Network) - American Mardy Fish and Spanish favorite Tommy Robredo were among Monday's unseeded winners at the $2.78 million Madrid Masters -- the eighth of nine ATP Masters Series events this year.

Fish swam past Belgian qualifier Steve Darcis 6-1, 6-4, with the help of 13 aces, while Robredo held off Italian Andreas Seppi 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-3 on Day 2 on the indoor hardcourt at Madrid Arena. Robredo will battle eighth-seeded American star Andy Roddick here on Wednesday.

Also on Monday, Czech Tomas Berdych blitzed German Rainer Schuettler 6-1, 6-2; France's Gilles Simon saved four match points before overcoming Russian Igor Andreev 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (9-7); Croat Marin Cilic handled Belgian qualifier Olivier Rochus 6-3, 7-5; and Italian Simone Bolelli topped Spain's Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (7-4), 6-1. The lucky-loser Bolelli will meet U.S. Open runner-up Andy Murray here on Tuesday.

Gritty Argentine David Nalbandian upset Swiss superstar Roger Federer in last year's Madrid finale. This week's top seeds are French Open, Wimbledon and Olympic champion Rafael Nadal, the U.S. Open titlist Federer and Aussie Open winner Novak Djokovic, all of whom received opening-round byes, along with 13 other seeds. The Spanish Nadal titled here in 2005, while Federer was the winner in 2006.

The world No. 1 Nadal will battle rising Latvian Ernests Gulbis on Tuesday.

The 2008 Madrid titlist will collect $490,000.