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Coria and Gaudio exit early on in Vina del Mar

Former champions Guillermo Coria and Gaston Gaudio lost in the first round of the Movistar Open on Monday.

Coria, who won the first of his nine ATP titles here in 2001, was beaten by Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in his first ATP-level match since the 2006 US Open.

The former world No. 3 quit the tour when he was struggling with his serve and confidence. Problems with his right shoulder sidelined him until the end of last year when he played in two challengers. He has a protected ranking of 105, good for nine months or eight tournaments.

"I have never thought of retirement," Coria said. "While I had lost my desire to play, I can tell you now that I feel in good rhythm and confident."

"I played very few tournaments last year and that of course takes its toll, but little by little I'm recovering my fitness," he said.

Fellow Argentine Gaudio, however, said he was closer to retirement after losing to Santiago Ventura of Spain 6-3, 6-0.

Gaudio, the winner three years ago at this Pacific Ocean resort, hasn't won on tour since last May at the French Open.

"Things are not working as I wish, I can't understand what's going on," Gaudio said. "These are not good times for me and with these results I'm thinking more about quitting than on going on. I've been like this for about a year now, I did not feel well in the court."

The former world No. 5 was ranked No. 183 and needed a wild card entry. He called retirement "a certain possibility," but added he will not make a decision until after playing in the Buenos Aires hometown tournament next month.

Juan Pablo Brzezicki rescued the opening day for Argentina with a 7-6 (4), 6-1 upset of sixth-seeded Oscar Hernandez of Spain, while countryman Sergio Roitman rallied to beat No. 8 Nicolas Massu of Chile 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-3.
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