Kiefer, Tursunov advance
Nicolas Kiefer, playing on a hard court for the first time in 16 months, moved into the second round of the Countrywide Classic with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Teimuraz Gabashvili on Monday.
The 30-year-old Kiefer, ranked 409th after getting as high as No. 4, injured his left wrist at last year's French Open. It took two operations to repair the injury and it kept him off the tour from June 2 last year until this June 11.
He went 2-3 on grass courts before playing his first hardcourt match since mid-March last year at Miami.
In other day matches, third-seeded Russian Marat Safin rallied to beat Australia's Chris Guccione 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2), fifth-seeded Dmitry Tursunov of Russia, last year's runner-up defeated Danai Udomchoke of Thailand 6-1, 6-4, No. 7 Lee Hyung-taik of South Korea beat Kevin Kim of the US 6-3, 6-2 and No. 8 seed Amer Delic of the US was upset by Michael Berrer of Germany 6-4, 6-4.
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