CINCINNATI (Ohio), July 29: France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu and Julien Benneteau found no change of fortune in Cincinnati on Monday, both bowing out in the first round of the hardcourt Masters Series.

Between them, the two have lost a combined eight of a dozen matches dating to June.

Mathieu fell in a flurry of 20 aces from big-hitting American Sam Querrey, who triumphed 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in the first meeting between the two.

The No 23 from France has now lost three straight opening contests in a row, a change of surface from the clay of Gstaad to hardcourt last week in Toronto and the Cincinnati venue making little difference in his form.

Mathieu last put consecutive wins together in June by reaching the Wimbledon third round.

Three of his last seven defeats since the pre-Wimbledon event at Nottingham have come at the hands of Croatian Marin Cilic.

He drops dangerously close to level-pegging for 2008 with a 21-20 win-loss mark.

Mathieu managed a dozen aces, but was broken three times as Querrey moved into a second-round match with Toronto semi-finalist Andy Murray.

Sweden’s Robin Soderling accounted for Benneteau 6-0, 6-3, the Frenchman now dragged down by a dismal four-match losing run.

Benneteau, ranked 57th, has lost six of his last seven since playing the fourth round at Roland Garros, where he lost to Roger Federer.

Spain’s 12th seed Tommy Robredo made more misery for Mardy Fish, posting a 6-2, 6-2 victory over the American who has now lot five straight matches.

Croatia’s 20th-ranked Ivo Karlovic beat Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci 6-3, 6-4.

Latvian talent Ernests Gulbis handed Finn Jarkko Nieminen a first-round loss for a second sraight week at the Masters level with his 7-6 (9-7), 6-2 victory, which followed Nieminen’s loss to Tomas Berdych in Toronto last week.

Italian Andreas Seppi beat Spain’s Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 7-5.

The top eight seeds at the 2.615 million-dollar event benefit from opening-round byes.

World No 1 Federer has been putting in the practise time as he tries to hold off a charge from Rafael Nadal in the tight rankings race.

Spain’s Nadal, who Toronto on Sunday for his fifth consecutive tournament title, stands a mere 300 points shy of the Swiss who has been atop the table for 235 weeks.

Monday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

First round: Jose Acasuso (Argentina) bt Mario Ancic (Croatia) 5-7, 6-2, 6-2; Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) bt Marat Safin (Russia) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4; Gael Monfils (France) bt Donald Young (US) 6-1, 6-1; Tommy Haas (Germany) bt 14-Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 6-4; Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) bt 13-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Robby Ginepri (US) bt Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) 6-0, 7-6 (7-5); Andreas Seppi (Italy) bt Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 7-5, 7-5; Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) bt Michael Yani (US) 6-3, 6-4; Sam Querrey (US) bt Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3; Robin Soderling (Sweden) bt Julien Benneteau (France) 6-0, 6-3; Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) bt Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) 7-6 (9-7), 6-2; 16-Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) bt Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil) 6-3, 6-4; 12-Tommy Robredo (Spain) bt Mardy Fish (US) 6-2, 6-2.

BATTLING BARTOLI

MONTREAL: France’s Marion Bartoli overcame a stomach virus to dispatch British qualifier Melanie South 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-0 here Monday and reach the second round of the Montreal Cup hardcourt tournament.

Bartoli, known mainly for her surprise showing in the championship match at Wimbledon last year, has struggled to build upon that success for most of this season.

Ranked 15th in the world and seeded 10th in this prestigious Tier One event, She reached just one semi-final in her first 14 tournaments of the season while being plagued by a wrist injury.

However, the 23-year-old reached the final at Stanford, California, two weeks ago.

Bartoli will be trying to improve on a strong showing in this event last year, when she reached the quarter-finals before losing to eventual champion Justine Henin.

A trip to the round of eight this time around could set up a potential match-up with third-seeded Maria Sharapova, who is one of the top eight players to get a first-round bye.

Another of last year’s quarter-finalists, 12th-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia, had her first-round match against Canadian Marie-Eve Pelletier postponed after a series of rain delays disrupted the day.

Petrova, 26 has reached the quarters or better in three of her last four tournaments.

Ninth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland also booked a spot in the second round due as opponent Yuan Meng of China retired with a thigh injury with Schnyder leading 7-6 (8-6), 3-2.

Schnyder’s next opponent will be Romania’s Monica Niculescu, who eased past American Varvara Lepchenko 6-1, 6-2.

World No 1 Ana Ivanovic, playing her first tournament since an upset loss to Zheng Jie in the third round at Wimbledon, is the top seed.

The Serbian took over atop the rankings following her triumph in the French Open, one of two titles for the 20-year-old this year.

In the second round she will face Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Aiko Nakamura of Japan.

Serbian Jelena Jankovic, the world No 2 who missed a chance to overtake Ivanovic atop the rankings when she lost in the semi-finals at Los Angeles on Saturday, is the second seed.

Results:

First round: Stephanie Dubois (Canada) bt Olga Govortsova (Belarus) 6-1, 4-2 — Govortsova retired; Shahar Peer (Israel) bt Sabine Lisicki (Germany) 6-3, 6-4; Tamira Paszek (Austria) bt 14-Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 7-6 (7-4), 1-6, 6-1; Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) bt Olivia Sanchez (France) 6-3, 6-1; Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) bt Chanelle Scheepers (South Africa) 6-3, 7-6 (7-1); 9-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) bt Yuan Meng (China) 7-6 (8-6), 3-2 — Yuan Meng retired; Anastasia Rodionova (Russia) bt Cara Black (Zimbabwe) 6-2, 6-2; Michelle Larcher de Brito (Portugal) bt Vania King (US) 2-6, 6-3, 6-3; Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) bt Aiko Nakamura (Japan) 6-2, 6-4; Virginie Razzano (France) bt Aravane Rezai (France) 6-1, 6-2; 10-Marion Bartoli (France) bt Melanie South (Britain) 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-0; Monica Niculescu (Romania) bt Varvara Lepchenko (US) 6-1, 6-2; Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) bt Elena Vesnina (Russia) 6-1, 6-1.—Agencies