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Davydenko knocked out in first round at Swiss Open

Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany plays a backhand during his second round match against Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic at the Swiss Open in Gstaad, Switzerland, on Wednesday. PHOTO: EPA

Gael Monfils, one of a trio of winning French players, returned to wrap up some unfinished business on a wet Wednesday to leave top seed Nikolay Davydenko winless at the Swiss Open.

Davydenko, fifth in the world, has been beaten three times in the first round here.

For a third straight day, unseasonably cold alpine weather failed to cooperate, forcing start-stop play on the clay courts.

Monfils held his nerve from Tuesday evening after failing to serve out the victory in rain, near-freezing temperatures and fading light.

When the pair returned, the number 57 broke Davydenko, then concluded the two-day struggle with a pair of aces, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.

"It was about the coldest that I've played in. I was very sad not to have finished," said Monfils. "I was only four points away. But I was nervous. I talked to my coach afterwards and saw my errors. I tried to work on that today. I practised serves this morning and did sprints, I knew our match would go quickly, but I was prepared to play a tiebreaker."

Wimbledon semi-finalist Richard Gasquet began his title defense, winning a first-round match over Spain's Rueben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-3, 6-4.

The pair actually played for one hour, 17 minutes, with a rain interruption in the seventh game of the second set lasting nearly an hour-and-a-half.

Gasquet won Gstaad a year ago over Feliciano Lopez.

The third seed, who struck nine aces, saved seven of 10 break points he faced on the high-altitude clay.

"The rain and the altitude made it tough to change," Gasquet said. "Plus, I was really tired from Wimbledon. I beat Roddick at 8pm on Friday and had to come back out on Saturday at noon to face Roger [Federer]."

"The conditions here are a huge change from the grass. It's not easy to switch over just like that. I rested on Monday and got some extra time when our match was postponed on Tuesday. I'm keen to do well here and try to retain my title," said the Neuchatel-based youngster.

Sixth-seeded Frenchman Marc Gicquel booked the first of the quarter-final spots as he put out fellow over-30 Werner Eschauer 6-2, 7-6 (7/4).

The defeat was a rare one for the 33-year-old in Switzerland, who owns four Challenger titles in the country.

Disaster struck the top two seeds, with both Davydenko and Mikhail Youzhny making exits.

Stefan Koubek stunned Youzhny 6-4, 6-3 with the Austrian reversing his luck after winning just three matches in his last ten events.

Former finalist Igor Andreev saved some Russian pride as he beat Spain's Albert Montanes 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in another match halted the day before in the final set.

Monfils said he was nervous when he tried to close it out against Davydenko on Tuesday.

In other first-round results, Argentine Marcelo Vassallo Arguello ended home participation early, upsetting seventh seed Stanislas Wawrinka 7-5, 1-6, 6-4.

Florent Serra was the lone French loser, falling to Czech Jiri Vanek 6-4, 6-1.

Spadea reaches quarter-finals

Former finalist Vince Spadea reached the quarter-finals at the Hall of Fame Championships when he accounted for Paul Capdeville of Chile 6-3, 7-5 on Wednesday.

Spadea had his serve broken in the first game, but broke back twice to take control of the first set.

"In grass court tennis, anytime you lose serve the first time it's not a good sign," he said. "But I'm ranked higher and have more experience."

He also struggled with his serve during the second set, having to overcome being broken twice.

"I was able to dictate enough, especially on the big occasions," Spadea said.

Spadea, runner-up in 2005 and the highest remaining seed at No. 2, will play Wesley Moodie in the quarter-finals after the South African beat Roko Karanusic of Croatia 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to win successive tour matches for the first time this year.

Fourth-seeded Fabrice Santoro completed the first round by defeating Alexander Peya of Austria 6-4, 6-1 in the French veteran's debut in Newport.

Pakistan qualifier Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi followed his win over top-seeded Mardy Fish by reaching his first career quarter-finals when he outlasted Australian lucky loser Nathan Healey 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-4 in a second-round match. Qureshi served 14 aces to nine.

Qureshi will play Dick Norman of Belgium, who ousted eighth-seeded Michael Berrer of Germany 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6).

Norman's only previous ATP quarter-final was 10 years ago in Antwerp on home ground.

Volandri defeats Schukin

Filippo Volandri rallied to beat Russian qualifier Yuri Schukin 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 on Wednesday and reach the quarter-finals at the Swedish Open.

Luis Horna, Nicolas Almagro and Olivier Rochus also advanced to the quarters.

Schukin, trying to reach the quarter-finals on the ATP Tour for the first time, led the Italian 4-1 in the opening set, but Volandri got back to 4-4 before losing when Schukin broke him in the 10th game.

Volandri then broke Schukin early in the final two sets.

Rochus defeated Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic 6-4, 7-5.

Rochus, who came into the clay-court tournament with a nine-match losing streak, has not dropped a single set in Bastad. He upset third-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in the first round.

Horna beat Carlos Berlocq 6-3, 7-6 (5) and Almagro defeated Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman 6-4, 6-2.
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