BUENOS AIRES, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Second-seeded Argentine Juan Monaco and third-seeded Spaniard Carlos Moya were both eliminated Tuesday in the first round of the Copa Telmex tennis tournament.
Monaco lost to countryman Augustin Calleri 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 and Moya, last week's runner-up in Costa do Sauipe, was defeated by Argentina's Jose Acasuso 6-2, 6-4.
Moya won the title in this tournament in 1995, 2003 and 2006, and was a finalist in 2004. He entered Tuesday's match with a career mark of 22-3 at the Buenos Aires event, but lasted a little more than an hour against the unseeded Acasuso.
Monaco, who beat Italian Alessio Di Mauro in last year's finale, lost to the 31-year-old Calleri for the fourth time in five matches.
In other action Tuesday, fourth-seeded Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela beat Spaniard Santiago Ventura 5-7, 6-3, 6-2; fifth-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro beat Argentine Martin Vassallo Arguello 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-2); sixth- seeded Russian Igor Andreev beat Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-3, 6-7 (8-10), 7-6 (7-4); and eighth-seeded Italian Filippo Volandri beat Chilean Nicolas Massu, the 2002 Buenos Aires champion, 6-4, 6-2.
