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Grosjean, Kuerten advance at St. Petersbur

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Sebastien Grosjean opened defense of his St. Petersburg Open crown Tuesday with a 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 7-5 victory in the first round at the $1 million event.

The second-seeded Frenchman is looking to collect ranking points towards clinching one of the remaining two spots for the Tennis Masters Cup Houston.

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Grosjean is still looking for his first title of the year. Runner-up at London and Tokyo, he reached the quarterfinals last week at the Madrid Masters.

Third seed Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil beat American Brian Vahaly, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, and No. 6 Vincente Spadea of the United States came back to defeat Russian Nikolay Davydenko, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Fernando Vicente extended two-time champion Marat Safin with a 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-3 victory over the eighth seed.

Spanish wild card Alex Corretja beat Czech Jan Vacek, 6-4, 6-1.

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