Tue Jul 15 15:02:47 2008

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Montanes wins Amersfoort opener

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Amersfoort, The Netherlands (Sports Network) - Fifth-seeded Spaniard Albert Montanes highlighted Tuesday's first-round winners at the clay-court Dutch Open.

Montanes handled Belgian Kristof Vliegen 6-4, 6-2 at Sportlokaal de Bokkeduinen.

Day-2 upsets came when German Philipp Petzschner overcame sixth-seeded Frenchman Florent Serra 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 and Dutch wild card Jesse Huta Galung grounded eighth-seeded Spaniard Santiago Ventura 6-1, 1-0, as Ventura retired with a right wrist injury.

Additional wins came for Spaniard Oscar Hernandez and Ivan Navarro, Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas, and Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who was leading Dutch wild card Martin Verkerk 2-6, 7-6 (11-9), 4-3 when the 2003 French Open runner-up Verkerk retired with an ankle injury. Verkerk captured the Dutch Open back in 2004.

On Wednesday, top-seeded Frenchman Marc Gicquel will take on Dutch wild card Thiemo De Bakker and third-seeded and defending Amersfoort titlist Steve Darcis of Belgium will battle Spaniard Alberto Martin in the second round. Darcis defeated Austrian Werner Eschauer in last year's finale here.

The 2008 Dutch Open winner will take home $86,000.