Valencia, Spain (Sports Network) - Former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt ousted
fourth-seeded 2011 runner-up Juan Monaco, while towering American John Isner
was a hard-fought winner in first-round action Monday at the Valencia Open 500
tennis event.
The 91st-ranked Aussie wild card Hewitt humbled the world No. 10 Monaco in
6-3, 6-4 fashion on the hardcourts at the City of the Arts.
The Argentine Monaco lost to Spaniard Marcel Granollers in last year's
Valencia finale.
The fifth-seeded 6-foot-9 Isner held off Italian Fabio Fognini 6-3, 6-7 (4-7),
7-5 and will meet Belgian David Goffin in the round 16.
In an all-Spanish affair on Day 2, Fernando Verdasco handled wild card and
fellow former top-10 star Tommy Robredo 6-3, 6-4. Verdasco captured this
tournament back in 2004.
Also on Monday, the aforementioned Goffin drubbed Spaniard Pablo Andujar 6-2,
6-2 and Croatian qualifier Ivan Dodig doused German Philipp Kohlschreiber
6-2, 7-6 (8-6).
On Tuesday, top seed David Ferrer, of Spain, will face Belgian Olivier Rochus,
while last week's Stockholm runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, this week's second
seed, will face Belgian Xavier Malisse, and sixth-seeded Nicolas Almagro will
battle fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero, the former world No. 1 who will
retire after this event. Ferrer titled here in 2008 and 2010, while Almagro is
also a two-time champ (2006-07). Ferrero was the Valencia titlist in 2003.
The 2012 Valencia champion will collect $445,000.
The Sports Network