Former No. 1 Pete Sampras showed glimpses of his dominating best against a top player 12 years his junior in the second set of his 6-3, 7-6 (2) exhibition loss to Spain's Fernando Verdasco on Monday at the SAP Open. "It was a pretty rough night," Sampras said. "I never really felt I could get into his service games.
Second-seeded Albert Montanes of Spain has opened his clay-court season with a 6-2, 7-6 (2) win over German Simon Greul on the first day of the Brazil Open. Fellow Spaniard Daniel Jimeno-Traver also reached the second round Monday, beating Spanish countryman Santiago Ventura 7-6 (7), 6-1. In the day's other match, wild card Ricardo Mello of Brazil beat Italian Paolo Lorenzi 6-2, 7-5.
Robin Soderling has won his first match of the year, beating Florent Serra 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the first round of the ABN Amro indoor tournament. Tommy Robredo also advanced to the second round with a 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory over Dutch player Robin Haase. Top-seeded Novak Djokovic and Nikolay Davydenko play their first-round matches on Tuesday.
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