March 28, 2008	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 19, 1429

MIAMI (Florida), March 27: Three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten, playing his final season, was ousted by France’s Sebastien Grosjean 6-1, 7-5 here on Wednesday on day one of the ATP and WTA Sony Ericcson Open.

The 31-year-old Brazilian wild card entrant had not played an ATP match in 13 months but wanted to make a farewell tour this year of the events dearest to his heart, including Roland Garros, where he won in 1997, 2000 and 2001.

Opening-day matches at the $7.54 million hardcourt tournament were mainly to determine first-match foes for top seeds, who all received a bye into the second round and do not start playing until later this week.

Women’s world No 1 Justine Henin of Belgium will open against Angelique Kerber after the German defeated Uzbekhistan’s Akgul Amanmuradova 7-5, 6-1.

Taiwan’s Chan Yung-Jan advanced to a matchup with Russian third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova by beating Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-1, 2-6, 6-1.

Poland’s Marta Domachowska booked a date with sixth seed Venus Williams, the reigning Wimbledon champion, after beating American Jill Craybas 6-4, 0-6, 7-6 (8-6).

On the men’s side, Germany’s Benjamin Becker defeated Argentine qualifier Sergio Roitman 6-3, 6-4 to book a date with second seed Rafael Nadal of Spain.

Belgium’s Xavier Malisse beat Spain’s Oscar Hernandez 6-1, 6-1 to earn a second-round match against Argentine seventh seed David Nalbandian.

Tommy Haas withdrew due to a sinus infection. The 29-year-old German, ranked 36th on the ATP Tour, pulled out of a quarter-final match against Swiss world No 1 Roger Federer last week at Indian Wells for the same reason.

Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez replaced him in the main draw.

Wednesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s singles:

First round: Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) bt Tommy Haas (Germany) 4-6, 7-6 (11-9), 6-4; Fabrice Santoro

(France) bt Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) 6-1, 6-0; Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay) bt Vince Spadea (US) 6-4, 6-2; Kevin Anderson (South Africa) bt Agustin Calleri (Argentina) 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 7-6 (7-4); Michael Berrer (Germany) bt Robin Haase (Netherlands) 6-4, 6-4; Sebastien Grosjean (France) bt Gustavo Kuerten (Brazil) 6-1, 7-5; Albert Montanes (Spain) bt Kei Nishikori (Japan) 7-5, 6-2; Sam Querrey (US) bt Carlos Berlocq (Argentina) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; Sam Warburg (US) bt Potito Starace (Italy) 7-6 (7-2), 6-2; Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) bt Jesse Levine (US) 7-5, 6-1; Benjamin Becker (Germany) bt Sergio Roitman (Argentina) 6-3, 6-4; Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) bt Evgeny Korolev (Russia) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2; Andreas Seppi (Italy) bt Marc Gicquel (France) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2; Xavier Malisse (Belgium) bt Oscar Hernandez (Spain) 6-1, 6-1; Nicolas Mahut (France) bt Florian Mayer (Germany) 7-6 (8-6), 6-3; Marin Cilic (Croatia) bt Kristof Vliegen (Belgium) 6-3, 6-2.

Women’s singles:

First round: Michelle Larcher de Brito (Portugal) bt Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3; Vania King (US) bt Meghann Shaughnessy (US) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1; Anastasia Rodionova (Russia) bt Casey Dell’Acqua

(Australia) 6-2, 7-6 (7-1); Rossana De Los Rios (Paraguay) bt Yvonne Meusburger (Austria) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4; Ashley Harkleroad (US) bt Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Switzerland) 6-4, 6-3; Tatiana Perebiynis (Ukraine) bt Gisela Dulko (Argentina) 6-4, 7-6 (7-1); Kaia Kanepi (Estonia) bt Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) 3-6, 7-5, 7-5; Nathalie Dechy (France) bt Saori Nakamura (Japan) 6-0, 6-0; Sara Errani (Italy) bt Akiko Morigami (Japan) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4; Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) bt Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) 6-4, 7-5; Elena Vesnina (Russia) bt Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) 6-4, 6-4; Marta Domachowska (Poland) bt Jill Craybas (US) 6-4, 0-6, 7-6 (8-6); Marina Erakovic (New Zealand) bt Martina Mueller (Germany) 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2; Chan Yung-jan (Taiwan) bt Raluca Olaru (Romania) 6-1, 2-6, 6-1; Edina Gallovits (Romania) bt Klara Zakopalova (Czech Republic) 6-4, 6-1; Angelique Kerber (Germany) bt Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzbekistan) 7-5, 6-1.—Agencies