Roddick Rolls; Dent, Moya Upset at Australian Open

Posted on January 16, 2006

No. 27 seed Taylor Dent, ousted in straight sets by Spaniard Guillermo "G-Lo" Garcia-Lopez, and No. 32 Carlos Moya, edged in five sets by Romanian veteran Andrei Pavel, were the lone seeded victims on Day One at the 2006 Australian Open.

The 7-6(4), 6-3, 7-6(4) loss was particularly graining for the American Dent, who entered the season with a renewed fitness approach, and with his father formerly representing the Australian Davis Cup team.

Seeded winners on the day were (1) Andy Roddick (d. Lammer), (4) David Nalbandian (d. Udomchoke 6-1 in the fifth), (7) Ivan Ljubicic (d. (WC) Guccione), (8) Gaston Gaudio (d. Sabau who retired with injury), (10) Thomas Johansson (d. Saulnier), (11) David Ferrer (d. Serra in four), (13) Robby Ginepri (d. Melzer), (16) Tommy Robredo (d. Vanek), (17) Radek Stepanek (d. Rehnquist), (18) Mario Ancic (d. Calleri), (19) Tomas Berdych (d. Reynolds in four), (20) James Blake (d. Acasuso in four), (26) Jarkko Nieminen (d. Kimmich), and (31) Feliciano Lopez (d. Behrend).

"I didn't feel hundred percent yet," said Nalbandian, winning a five-setter after coming off a bout with the flu. "In the middle of the third set, I lose power, lose everything, and don't feel good. But, well, that's normal. I was sick in the beginning of the week, so I thought that I was better than I play. I expect to be better physically, but not hundred percent yet."
FOLDHERE

Notable unseeded losers Monday were Tim Henman, ousted in four sets by Wimbledon nemesis Dmitry Tursunov of Russia, Americans Vince Spadea (l. to Santoro in four) and Justin Gimelstob (l. to Baghdatis 6-0 in the third), former German Top 10er Rainer Schuettler (l. to countryman Burgsmuller in four), and Olympic winner Nicolas Massu (l. to Simon in five).

For Henman it was his second consecutive first-round loss in a slam.

"I've got to -- you know, I've got to regain some momentum in my game," Henman said. "With the limited sort of schedule I played at the sort of latter part of last year, and obviously started afresh this year, first and foremost, as I said, the priority is to be out there healthy and competing."

Other un-seeds safely into the second round were Taipei's Yeu-Tzuoo Wang (d. Zabaleta who retired with injury), Luxembourg's Gilles Muller (d. Mello 6-0 in the fifth), Swiss Stan Wawrinka (d. Montanes, bagel in the fourth), South African Wesley Moodie (d. O.Hernandez in four), Italy's Daniele Bracciali (d. Y.-H. Lu), France's Jean-Christophe Faurel (d. Waske) and Julien Benneteau (d. Daniel who retired with injury), Belgian Xavier Malisse (d. Youzhny in four), Czech Jan Hernych (d. Vicente in four), and Germans Philipp Kohlschreiber (d. Dlouhy) and Denis Gremelmayr (d. Bjorkman in four).

On tap for Tuesday in Melbourne are (1) Federer vs. Istomin, (3) Hewitt vs. Vik, (25) Grosjean vs. Philippoussis, (14) Gasquet vs. Haas, Murray vs. Chela, (6) Coria vs. Hanescu, (9) Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez vs. Bogomolov Jr., (15) Ferrero vs. Zib, Minar vs. Luczak, (5) Davydenko vs. "Dr." Ivo Karlovic, (22) Gael "Force" Monfils vs. Horna, (21) Kiefer vs. Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan, Fleishman vs. D.Norman, Snobel vs. "Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter, H.-T. Lee vs. Mayer, (28) Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco vs. Carlsen, (23) Andreev vs. Almagro, (30) Max "The Beast" Mirnyi vs. Ascione, (24) Olivier "The Roach" Rochus vs. Llodra, C.Rochus vs. Vliegen in an all-waffle affair, Berlocq vs. Phau, Levy vs. K.Kim, Adaktusson vs. Sanguinetti, Goldstein vs. Djokovic, Seppi vs. Tipsarevic, Lisnard vs. Monaco, (29) Volandri vs. Healey, Arthurs vs. Pashanski, (12) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty vs. Marach, Clement vs. Mathieu in an all-France, Marin vs. Luzzi, and Starace vs. Delic.