Gonzalez rallies for first-round win

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BEIJING, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Second-seeded Fernando Gonzalez rallied for a tight three-set victory Monday in the first round of the $500,000 China Open tennis tournament in Beijing.

Gonzalez, who was the runner-up at the Australian Open early this year, was pushed by Alexander Peya before heading into the second round with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 win to open the hard-court tournament.

Two other seeded players had somewhat easier times in their Monday matches as No. 6 Lee Hyung-taik beat Adrian Garcia 6-4, 6-3 and eighth-seeded Igor Kunitsyn topped Peng Sun 6-2, 7-6 (9-7).

Also in the first-round Monday, Kevin Kim stopped Xin Yuan Yu 6-3, 7-5; Bjorn Phau saved a match point before collecting a 5-7, 7-6 (11-9), 6-2 win over Davide Sanguinetti; and Paul Capdeville was a 6-2, 6-2 winner over Danai Udomchoke.

Marcos Baghdatis is the China Open defending champion. He opens his defense against Shao Xuan Zeng on Tuesday.

World No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko, who lost in the semifinals of the U.S. Open last week, if the top seed for the China Open.