Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:34
The Spaniard lost 6-5 7-6 (7/4) in an hour and 43 minutes, failing to take any of the three break points he was presented.
Another seed to suffer a premature exit was number six Marc Gicquel, who went down 6-4 3-6 7-5 to Ivan Navarro, but fifth seed Dudi Sela breezed past Igor Kunitsyn of Russia 6-4 6-3 and Michael Llodra downed Kristof Vliegen 6-2 6-3.
In one of two first-round matches on Tuesday, Marcos Baghdatis cruised past second seed Tommy Robredo 7-5 6-2.
The Cypriot needed little more than an hour and a quarter to see off the Spaniard, and joining him in round two is Dutchman Thiemo de Bakker, who beat German Bjorn Phau 7-6 (7/3) 2-6 6-3.
In the first round of the women’s singles, world number one and top seed Dinara Safina thrashed Anna-Lene Groenefeld 6-0 6-3 and second seed Nathalie Dechy battled past Dominika Cibulkova 6-3 3-6 6-3.
Alona Bondarenko beat Stephanie Foretz 6-4 6-7 (7/1) 6-3 in other first-round action, while in the round two, Flavia Pennetta, the third seed, beat Ksenia Pervak, Tamarine Tanasugarn thrashed Iveta Benesova and Yanina Wickmayer saw off Sorana Cirstea in straight sets.
