WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina , Aug 23 : Russia's Igor Andreev eliminated No. 2 seed Jurgen Melzer with a 7-5, 6-3 win Monday in the second round of the Winston-Salem Open, the final men's tournament before the U.S. Open.
Melzer had trouble coping with Andreev's serves, some of which were clocked at 125 mph (201 kph). Andreev, who won points on 77 percent of his first serves, is ranked 79th in the ATP rankings.
Australian former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt was eliminated in the first round with a 6-4, 7-6 (3) loss to Slovenia's Blaz Kavcic. The 24-year-old Kavcic, who played in a tournament in Uzbekistan over the weekend, didn't arrive in Winston-Salem until 3 a.m. Monday.
"He's the biggest name player I've beaten," Kavcic said. "I just tried to attack a little bit with my forehand and I think I need to do that a little more." Hewitt, 30, who has missed the last five weeks while recovering from a foot injury, has won 28 career singles titles with two grand slams. Hewitt said his foot bothered him, but Kavcic simply played better.
"He doesn't have any obvious weaknesses out there," Hewitt said. "His serve is a little patchy at times but some of the break-point opportunities I did get he came up with some good first serves."Earlier, No. 8 seed Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus defeated American Ryan Sweeting 7-5, 6-1 in another second-round match. The 16 seeded players, including No. 1-seeded Andy Roddick, received first-round byes.
"I was able to find a solution to get by and win. That's the most important thing," Baghdatis said. Qualifier Kei Nishikori of Japan beat Luxembourg's Gilles Muller 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in the first round.
Also in the opening round, Israel's Dudi Sela defeated Italy's Filippo Volandri 6-3, 6-2; Belgium's Steve Darcis topped Portugal's Frederico Gil 3-6, 6-3, 6-4; France's Julien Benneteau won a matchup of qualifiers by defeating Brazil's Ricardo Mello 6-1, 6-3; and Argentina's Carlos Berlocq advanced when Austria's Andreas Haider-Maurer retired with Berlocq leading 7-5, 4-1. American Michael Russell beat Adrain Mannarino of France, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2; Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin topped Germany's Matthias Bachinger, 7-6 (1), 6-1; and France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin beat Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic, 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-6 (4).AP
