Spanish Veterans Corretja, Costa Advance at ATP Masters Madrid

Spain's unseeded armada were on stage Monday on the opening day of the ATP Masters Series-Madrid, but only two survived into the second round in former No. 2 and wildcard Alex Corretja (d. (WC) countryman Ferrer) and former Roland Garros champ Albert Costa (d. Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze in three).

"It was important to win this first match because I was coming in with five first-round losses," said Costa, who will next face the top-seeded Tim Henman. "This tournament motivates me a lot, it is in Madrid, and I really want to play well here. The court was pretty fast."

Costa for his part had no problem with the models-as-ball-girls stunt at Madrid.

"I think they did a good job, just like the ball boys," Costa said. "When you are on court, you don't concentrate on ball girls or ball boys. You just take the balls and you serve and be professional. But I think it's a fun initiative."
FOLDHERE
Two other Spaniards fell short in qualifier Juan Luis Tati Rascon (l. to Robby "Baby Courier" Ginepri), and wildcard David Sanchez (l. to qualifier Max "The Beast" Mirnyi).

Other un-seeds into the second round were Swede Robin Soderling (d. Florian "Oscar" Mayer), Peru's Luis "Me So" Horna (d. Arazi), Austrian qualifier Stefan Koubek (d. the pseudo-injured Schalken), French qualifier Anthony Dupuis (d. Calleri), and American Mardy "Silver" Fish (d. Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic after losing the first set 0-6).

"I don't really like playing first matches because I'm always tired in the mornings," said the night-owl Soderling after besting the German comer Mayer. "I think I played really well today and he did too, especially in the beginning so it was a good match. I'm playing very good on indoor courts. I went to Moscow and was quite tired but now I'm feeling good again."

On court Tuesday the seeds come out at Madrid in Haas vs. Xavier "X-Man" Malisse, Bjorkman vs. Verdasco, Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal vs. Sanguinetti, (Q) The Beast vs. (2) Agassi, "Dr." Ivo Karlovic vs. Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez, Dent vs. Youzhny, a doubles highlight in (WC)Ram/Safin vs. (2)Bryan/Bryan, (Q) Berdych vs. Ljubicic, (Q) Vliegen vs. Canas, (4) Nalbandian vs. Soderling, (12) Chela vs. (Q) Dupuis, and the Silver Fish vs. (9) Pavel.