Melzer out at Romanian Open

BUCHAREST, Romania, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Defending champion Jurgen Melzer was a first-round loser Monday in the $400,000 clay-court Romanian Open in Bucharest.

Melzer, seeded fourth this year, grabbed an early lead but faltered and dropped a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 decision to Andreas Seppi.

In other first-round matches involving seeded players, fifth-seeded Igor Andreev ousted Peter Luczak 6-4, 3-6, 6-4; No. 6-seeded Gilles Simon swept Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6 (7-3), 6-4; and eighth-seeded Albert Montanes had little trouble in a 6-3, 6-1 rout of Nicolas Devilder.

Also wining Monday were Ivan Navarro Pastor, Evgeny Korolev and Martin Vassallo Arguello.

Nicolas Almagro, ranked 26th in the world, is the top seed for the 2007 Romanian Open.