Mon Jun 16 15:33:51 2008

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Karlovic advances; Mathieu bows out in Nottingham

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Nottingham, England (Sports Network) - Reigning champion Ivo Karlovic was a first-round winner, while second-seeded Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu came up a loser Monday at The Slazenger Open, a final grass-court Wimbledon tuneup.

The fourth-seeded Karlovic handled veteran Swede Jonas Bjorkman 6-3, 6-4, while Mathieu bowed out against 55th-ranked Croat Marin Cilic 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 at The City of Nottingham Tennis Centre. Bjorkman titled here back in 1998 and 2002.

The 6-foot-10 Karlovic beat 5-foot-8 Frenchman Arnaud Clement in last year's finale here.

Meanwhile, sixth-seeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov doused Taipei's Yen-Hsun Lu 7-5, 6-4 and seventh-seeded Italian Andreas Seppi came back to defeat Israeli Dudi Sela 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.

In other opening-round play, Frenchman Julien Benneteau bounced Italian Simone Bolelli 6-1, 6-4, American Sam Querrey leveled Colombian Alejandro Falla 6-3, 6-4 and American Bobby Reynolds outlasted France's Nicolas Mahut 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. Querrey will tangle with Karlovic here on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, top-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek will take on 6-foot-9 American John Isner.