Davydenko Wins, Coria Retires Again at Sopot

"It was a great first match and good preparation for the rest of the week," Davydenko said. "I felt really good, especially for a first match which can often be tricky. I never played well here in the past, losing in the first round twice, but I still have nice memories of Sopot."

Davydenko hit six aces and broke the Rochus serve four times to extend his career lead over the Belgian to 5-0.

The Russian, winner of one ATP title (Poertschach) from three finals (Bastad, Estoril) this season, extends his 2006 match record to 40-20.

He will next play Juan Monaco or Houston finalist Jurgen Melzer. The pair met at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart two weeks ago, with Monaco winning 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-4.

Meanwhile 2003 champion, Guillermo Coria, had to retire with a recurring right shoulder injury while leading 6-5 in the first set against 22-year-old home favorite Michal Przysiezny. Coria, who was one of eight players representing Argentina in the tournament, was seeded fourth and was looking to improve upon his recent run to the semifinals in Amersfoort. The Argentine hit eight double faults before retiring after the 11th game of the match.

"It's a similar problem to what I had in Amersfoort a few weeks ago," Coria said. "I've been getting treatment on my shoulder in the past week and it felt ok. But when the conditions get wet and the balls get really heavy like today, it's very tough for my shoulder. It was impossible to continue like this. It's very disappointing."

World No. 85, Lukas Dlouhy, who has a 6-18 record this year, defeated the sixth-seeded Spaniard Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-4, 6-2 in just over 1 hour and will now face the winner of Philipp Kohlschreiber and Carlos Berlocq.

Second seed Tommy Robredo will continue his match against Ivo Minar tomorrow due to bad light. Minar, who has a 1-13 record on the ATP circuit this year, dropped the first set in a tie-break, but leads 1-0 in the second set.
-- ATP