Top seed
Nikolay Davydenko, French Open champ
Juan Carlos Ferrero,
David Ferrer and defending champ
Igor Andreev all made opening-round exits Tuesday as the ATP claycourt stop in Valencia lost four of its Top 5 seeds.
Czech
Jan Hernych shocked last year's Roland Garros semifinalist Davydenko, while qualifiers ousted the Spaniards Ferrer (l. to
Thierry Ascione, retiring with a shoulder injury) and Ferrero (l. to countryman
Nicolas Almagro), and wildcard
Marat Safin edged his countryman Andreev in two tightly-contested sets.
"This was a special day for me, against a great player," said Almagro of beating Ferrero from a set down. "He was No. 1 of the world and crowd favorite."
No. 6
Filippo Volandri (d. (Q) Portas 0-and-1) was the lone seeded winner, joined in the second round by un-seeded Italians
Potito Starace (d. Dlouhy),
Andreas Seppi (d. Ramirez Hidalgo) and David Sanguinetti (d. (LL) Gabashvili from a set down), France's
Gilles Simon (d. Vik), Czech
Tomas Zib (d. Pavel), and German
Bjorn Phau (d. (Q) Fraile in three).
On court Wednesday in Valencia are Simon vs. Sanguinetti, Starace vs. (7) Verdasco, Hernych vs. Guillermo "G-Lo" Garcia-Lopez, and (Q) Ascione vs. Seppi.
