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Unheralded Goldstein sends Hewitt crashing out

Ai Sugiyama of Japan returns a shot against Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic during the Bank of the West Classic tennis tournament at Stanford University on Tuesday in Palo Alto, California. PHOTO: AFP

Two time Grand Slam champion Lleyton Hewitt was sent crashing out of the Los Angeles ATP tournament on Tuesday, losing his opening round match to unheralded Paul Goldstein 6-4, 6-4.

American Goldstein clinched the victory with an ace that froze the second seeded Hewitt in his tracks in the evening match at the main stadium of the University of California Los Angeles.

"It was a tactical match," Goldstein said. "I am not the kind of guy who is going to serve [Hewitt] off the court. It was a little bit of cat and mouse out there."

Goldstein posted the biggest upset of the tournament so far as Hewitt lost for just the second time in his last 11 matches and slipped to 26-10 on the year.

"It is disappointing," said Hewitt, who arrived from Australia the day before his match.

"He [Goldstein] played well on the bigger points. When I had an opportunity late in the second set to break him I didn't do it," he said.

The 29-year-old Goldstein won his first match against Hewitt in five career meetings.

Paul Goldstein looks to return the ball to Lleyton Hewitt of Australia during their first-round match at the Countrywide Classic tennis tournament in Los Angeles on Tuesday. PHOTO: AP

Goldstein came out with more spark, breaking Hewitt's serve in the opening game of the match. It was the first of five service breaks for Goldstein who also fired eight aces.

"This has to be one of the biggest wins of my career," he said.

Goldstein has seen his world ranking drop from 58 in April to 86 heading into the Los Angeles tournament.

It was a bad day all around for the Aussies as former World No. 2 Tommy Haas cruised to a two set victory over Australian Wayne Arthurs.

Haas beat hard-serving Arthurs 6-4, 6-4 in just under one hour.

"I didn't do anything sensational, but it was a good solid match," Haas said.

In other matches on Tuesday, Marat Safin of Russia defeated American Mardy Fish 6-4, 7-5 while Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty defeated Zack Fleishman, of the US, 7-5, 7-5. Switzerland's George Bastl beat France's Nicolas Mahut 6-3, 7-6 (7/1).

Asia's top female star Ai Sugiyama fired off a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Kveta Peschke in her opening match of the WTA Bank of the West Classic tournament on Tuesday.

Japan's Sugiyama didn't serve as well as she would have liked but she was able to make up for it with precision returns and solid groundstrokes.

"Midway through the first set, she started to be more aggressive and she made some mistakes which allowed me to take the set," Sugiyama said. "In the second set, although I wasn't serving that well, I was returning very well and I was able to take advantage of my opportunities."

The 31-year-old Sugiyama booked a second-round clash with France's Tatiana Golovin.

American Shenay Perry upset fifth seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovaia 6-2, 0-6, 6-3 in a night match.

Perry's win sets up a second round meeting with American Fed Cup teammate Jill Craybas. Perry was Craybas' teammate on the squad that beat Germany in the quarter-finals in April.

Australian Samantha Stosur advanced with an easy 6-1, 6-3 victory over Ukrainian qualifier Olga Savchuk, while Serbian Jelana Jankovic downed American wild card Lilia Osterloh 7-5, 6-3.

Robin Vik beat defending champion Guillermo Coria in the first round on Tuesday and David Ferrer withdrew, completing the elimination of the top three seeds in the first two days of the Croatia Open.

Vik easily dispatched the third-seeded Coria 6-2, 6-3, while No. 1 Ferrer pulled out citing exhaustion after prevailing in a five-hour final on Sunday to win in Stuttgart, Germany.

Their eliminations followed Albert Portas' three-set victory over No. 2 seed and fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero on Monday.

Coria was on serve at 2-2 before dropping four straight games and the first set.

He broke Vik to open the second set, but immediately gave away the advantage in the next game and was eliminated.

"It was one of the worst matches in my entire career," Coria said, adding that the shoulder surgery he underwent forced him to change his grip.
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