MUNICH, Germany, April 29 (UPI) -- Seventh seeded Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador held off German wild card Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, to advance to the second round of the $400,000 BMW Open Monday.
Lapentti improved to 7-5 on clay this season after early-round losses in Buenos Aires, Acapulco and Monte Carlo. Last week, he reached the third round at Barcelona.
Eighth seed Fabrice Santoro of France was upset by the oldest player in this year's field, Francisco Clavet, 7-6 (9-7), 2-6, 6-4. Santoro lost his only previous claycourt match this season and improved to 3-2 against Clavet, who also endured first-round
losses at Estoril and Monte Carlo after reaching the
quarterfinals at Acapulco.
France's Julien Boutter advanced with a 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) triumph over Australian Mark Philippoussis, the 1997 champion.
Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina also knocked off a former champion, recording a 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4 victory over countryman Francisco Squillari. Chela improved to 2-1 lifetime against Squillari, a two-time champion who fell to 12-2 in this event.
Also, German Alexander Popp defeated countryman Bjorn Phau, 6-4, 6-3.
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