Mon Jan 14 08:52:05 2008

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Nadal, Roddick advance; Murray exits Aussie Open on Day 1

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Melbourne, Australia (Sports Network) - Second-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal and sixth-seeded American Andy Roddick advanced to the second round at the Australian Open with straight-set wins on a relatively quiet opening day in the men's bracket in Melbourne.

The reigning three-time French Open champion and two-time Wimbledon runner-up Nadal was tested in the first two sets before getting past Serbian Viktor Troicki 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, 6-1 in Monday's nightcap at Melbourne Park.

Nadal's second-round opponent will be Frenchman Florent Serra, a 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-5) winner against German Florian Mayer.

Roddick -- who has never lost in the first round of this Grand Slam event, but never advanced past the semifinal round here -- beat Czech qualifier Lukas Dlouhy 6-3, 6-4, 7-5. The former world No. 1 Roddick will next encounter German Michael Berrer, a four-set victor over American Donald Young.

Fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia beat Frenchman Michael Llodra 7-5, 7-5, 6-3 to setup a second-rounder against another Frenchman, Nicolas Mahut. Davydenko has been a quarterfinalist here three years running.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, from France, pulled off an upset of ninth-seeded Brit Andy Murray, 7-5, 6-4, 0-6, 7-6 (7-5). On the deciding point of the fourth-set tiebreak, Murray struck a shot just wide left to end the match, and whacked a ball into the stands in frustration.

Murray advanced to the fourth round here last year, while Tsonga lost in the first round in his only previous Aussie Open appearance.

Eighth-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet got past Aussie Nick Lindahl 6-0, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2, while 11th seed Tommy Robredo also advanced, though he had to come back from being two sets down to German Mischa Zverev. Robredo, from Spain, won the third set in a tiebreak, then won the final two sets to take the match 4-6, 2-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 7-5.

Robredo will face American Mardy Fish in the second round. Both players reached the quarterfinal round of last year's Australian Open. Fish beat Serbian Boris Pashanski in four sets here on Monday.

Former Aussie Open runner-up Carlos Moya suffered an opening-day setback, as the 1997 finalist succumbed to gritty Austrian Stefan Koubek 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (2-7), 7-5, 6-4. The former world No. 1 Moya was seeded 16th here.

Fourteenth-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny rolled past France's Mathieu Montcourt 6-0, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), while Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez took out 18th-seeded Argentine slugger Juan Ignacio Chela 6-4, 6-2, 1-6, 6-2.

Two other seeded players, No. 24 Finn and No. 28 Frenchman Gilles Simon, needed the full five sets to get by their opponents, as Nieminen snuck past Canadian Frank Dancevic, while Simon slipped past American Bobby Reynolds.

Other seeds to advance were No. 20 Ivo Karlovic from Croatia, No. 23 Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, No. 26 Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, No. 29 German Philipp Kohlschreiber and No. 31 Russian Igor Andreev. Kohlschreiber is fresh off his title last week in Auckland.

Several other non-seeds advanced on Day 1, including Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, Americans Sam Warburg and Jesse Levine, Argentine Agustin Calleri and 2003 Aussie Open runner-up Rainer Schuettler of Germany.