VALENCIA, Spain -- Second-seeded Gaston Gaudio and former
champion Fernando Verdasco won in straight sets Monday to reach the
second round of the Valencia Open.
Gaudio, the 2004 French Open champ, withstood 10 aces by Raemon
Sluiter of the Netherlands to win 7-6 (6), 7-6 (3). The Argentine
won five clay-court titles last year and a career-best 42 matches
on the dirt, but he's off to only a 6-3 start this year, with his
best result a semifinal appearance at Acapulco.
Verdasco, the champ in 2004, defeated Alberto Martin 6-3, 6-4 in
an all-Spanish match.
In other first-round matches, Boris Pashanski of Serbia and
Montenegro beat 2002 French Open champ Albert Costa 3-6, 6-3, 6-4;
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez defeated Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-3 in another
all-Spanish encounter; and Florian Mayer of Germany ousted Guillem
Burniol of Spain 6-0, 6-3 to next face Gaudio.
Defending champion Igor Andreev will open Tuesday against fellow
Russian Marat Safin, who will play his first match on clay since
last year's French Open. Also, top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko will
begin his European clay season against Jan Hernych.