Coria Says Leave Argentines Alone; Safin Qualifies for Masters Cup

Five other unseeded winners moved into the second round in Chinese wildcard Yu Wang Jr. (d. (Q) Gregorc), Israeli qualifier Amir Hadad (d. D.Norman), Finn Jarkko Nieminen (d. Schuettler), Danai Udomchoke (d. Okun in three), and Japanese lucky loser Toshihide Matsui (d. (WC) Sun in three).

For Germany's Rainer Schuettler, who only last year climbed to a career-high No. 5 on the ATP Rankings, it was his second consecutive opening-round loss following last week at the Istanbul Challenger.

Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty has withdrawn from the event citing a back injury.

Scheduled for Wednesday are five grand slam winners or runner-ups in (1) Nadal vs. Wang, Tursunov vs. (6) Ferrero, (3) Nalbandian vs. (Q) Hadad, (8) Moya vs. Koubek, and Nieminen vs. (4) T.Johansson.

Seeds Cruise, Gael Force Blown Away at ATP Bucharest

All five seeded players in action advanced in straight sets on the dirt Tuesday at the ATP stop in Bucharest in (1) Mariano Puerta (d. Tipsarevic), (2) Filippo Volandri (d. Behrend), (3) Andrei Pavel (d. A.Martin), (4) Victor Hanescu (d. Starace), and (8) Fernando Verdasco (d. Zabaleta).

"It's really nice to win today because I've been going through a period where I have been struggling a little bit," said the homecountry favorite Pavel. "Coming home is great after a five-set loss at the US Open. I was a little bit nervous in the beginning but I'm so glad that I went through."

Puerta says he is happy to be back on the dirt, with a slim chance at qualifying for the eight-man year-end championship.

"I'm happy, I have some expectations to do well at this tournament," Puerta said. "I have a small change to qualify for [the Masters Cup in] Shanghai so I want to try to win this tournament."

No. 5 seed Gael "Force" Monfils failed to capitalize on a set lead, ousted in three by Spain's Al Montanes.

Two Spanish qualifiers moved into the second round in Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (d. countryman Almagro) and Al Portas (d. C.Rochus), while Austrian qualifier Oliver Marach led Pole-position qualifier Mariusz Fyrstenberg 6-4, 2-2 when the match was suspended due to darkness.

Other unseeded winners into the second round were Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (d. Horna in three) and Russian Igor Andreev (d. Waske).

Scheduled for Wednesday are (7) Mathieu vs. (Q) Portas, Serra vs. (2) Volandri, (1) Puerta vs. Garcia-Lopez, Andreev vs. Montanes, and (Q) Marach vs. (Q) Fyrstenberg (to finish).

Losing a Bych for Mirza at WTA Bali

Sania Mirza's late-season run hit a snag Tuesday at the WTA stop in Bali where India's media sensation and the No. 8 seed was summarily dismissed 6-3, 6-2 by unseeded Russian Ekaterina Bychkova.

"Everyone has bad days and it's my bad day today," said Mirza, who exited in under an hour. "I wasn't really in it. I was not in my rhythm."

Seeded winners on the day were (3) Alicia Molik (d. Diaz-Oliva) and (5) Anna-Lena Groenefeld (d. Sprem in three).

Chinese players continued their strong play with two advancing into the second round in Jie Zheng (d. Vento-Kabchi) and qualifier Zi Yan (d. (WC) Prakusya).

Other unseeded players into the second round Tuesday were Spaniards Laura Pous Tio (d. Shaughnessy 6-1 in the third) and (WC) Virginia Ruano Pascual (d. (Q) Sun), and Japan's Aiko Nakamura (d. (Q) Yonemura in two tiebreaks).

Scheduled for Wednesday are Pennetta vs. Muller, Pous Tio vs. Schiavone, Davenport vs. Fujiwara, and Yan vs. N.Li.

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