Top-Seeded Ferrer Slides Out at ATP Palermo

The ATP claycourt stop in Palermo lost its No. 1, 4 and 7 seeds on Tuesday, with top-seeded Spaniard Dave Ferrer crashing out to Italian wildcard Francesco Aldi, No. 4 tomas Berdych upended by Italian Andreas Seppi, and Spaniard Al Martin downing No. 7 Gael Monfils after losing the first set 6-1.

"I had been waiting for a moment like this for a long, long time," said the 24-year-old Aldi who rode the homecourt support to a 6-2, 6-2 stomping of Ferrer. "To win in front of my family and friends is just amazing and I played my best match ever. I was nervous in the first couple of games but then I settled down and played my own game."

It was the first ATP-level win for Aldi.

Seeded winners on the day were (2) Tommy Robredo (d. Spanish countryman (Q) Portas), (3) Juan Carlos Ferrero (d. Mayer), (5) Fernando Verdasco (d. Zib), and (8) Davide Sanguinetti (d. Serra from a set down).

Unseeded winners into the second round were Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela (d. (Q) Sanchez de Luna), Germans Tomas Behrend (d. Bracciali in three) and qualifier Daniel Elsner (d. (Q) Fognini from a set down), Russian Igor Andreev (d. Almagro in three), Belgian Christophe Rochus (d. D.Sanchez), and Spaniard Al Montanes (d. Calleri, bagel in the second).

On the dirt Wednesday are O.Hernandez vs. (3) Ferrero in an all-Spanish, (WC) Francesco Aldi "Nova" vs. Andreev, (5) Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco vs. Behrend, (6) Volandri vs. Massu, and (Q) Elsner vs. A.Martin.