Haas advances at German tournament

HALLE, Germany, June 10 (UPI) -- Local favorite Tommy Haas collected an upset victory Tuesday in first-round play at the $1.12 million Gerry Weber Open tennis tournament in Germany.

Haas faltered in the first set, getting shutout in a tiebreaker, before rallying for a 6-7 (0-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 win over sixth-seeded Radek Stepanek.

It was one of two upsets of seeded players Tuesday as No. 8 Ivan Ljubicic also dropped a tight match, losing 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 to Michael Llodra.

Second-seeded James Blake easily handled qualifier Bjorn Phau, 6-4, 6-1, in his Tuesday match while fourth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny breezed by Dmitry Tursunov, 6-3, 6-1, and No. 5-seeded Marcos Baghdatis, a runner-up at the Weber last year, advanced with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Jan Hernych.

Also Tuesday, Fabrice Santoro got by Rainer Schuettler, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, and Nicolas Kiefer won, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, over Robin Haase. Jan Vacek and Steve Darcis also posted wins Tuesday.

World No. 1 Roger Federer, coming off being routed in the French Open final, is the top seed. He bypassed the Weber last year after winning the tournament each year from 2003 to 2006. Third-seeded Tomas Berdych is the defending champion.