Fellow seeds Mantilla, Ferrer, also advance.
Fifth-seeded Argentine Agustin Calleri recovered from a first-set shut-out
to defeat American Cecil Mamiit 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 and advance to the second
round of the Bellsouth Open by Rosen. It was the first win of the season
for Calleri, who lost in the first round of Auckland and the Australian
Open. Calleri went 14-11 on clay last year.
Spanish seeds Felix Mantilla (7) and David Ferrer (8) also won through to
the second round. Mantilla improved to 7-3 on the year with a 6-1, 6-4 win
over countryman Alberto Martin. Ferrer also conceded just five games to
American Alex Kim in his 6-2, 6-3 win.
Second seed Nicolas Lapentti has withdrawn from the tournament with a
back injury. He has been replaced by Spanish lucky loser Ruben Ramirez
Hidalgo.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID
Mantilla: "It's always tough to play another Spaniard, but the result
showed I played a good match. I'm confident and playing well. I feel
like I am going to have a good year. If I stay free of injury, the
results should come."
Calleri: "I didn't have any confidence at the start of the match. I
have to work on that. Although it took me three or four match points
to close out that match, hopefully it will give my confidence a boost."
TUESDAY PREVIEW
Top seed Gaston Gaudio faces a tough opening-round match against Nicolas
Massu in the feature night match Tuesday. Massu played his best tennis of
the season this time last year when he reached the Vina del Mar semifinal
and won the Buenos Aires title. However, he is playing his first tournament
of the 2003 season this week. Despite missing last week's Davis Cup Tie
through injury, Massu said fitness will not be a problem this week. "I am
definitely ready to play," he said. "I don't know how I will
perform because it's been many months since I've played a match. It's a
tough match and I'll just try to do my best. I wouldn't be surprised if
I won or if I lost."
Massu is here this week with coach Gabriel Markus, who is no longer working
with David Nalbandian.
Gaudio has eight matches under his belt this year, including convincing
Davis Cup wins last weekend against Australian Open champion Rainer
Schuettler and Lars Burgsmuller. Gaudio conceded just nine games in
five sets against the Germans. Gaudio won two clay court titles last
year with back-to-back victories in Barcelona and Mallorca.
Third seed Marcelo Rios plays his first tournament match of the season
against fellow Chilean and wild card entrant Adrian Garcia. Rios, who
had a surprisingly-lean South American swing this time last year (falling
in the first round of Vina del Mar and the second round of Buenos Aires)
made his 2003 season debut last week in Chile's Davis Cup loss to Ecuador.
Rios suffered a shock straight-sets loss to Giovanni Lapentti on day one
before beating Nicolas Lapentti on day three. Rios returned a 32-21
match record last season, including 6-6 on clay.
In a big day for Chile, wild card Hermes Gamonal follows Rios and Garcia
on center court in a match against Spaniard Jacobo Diaz.
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