Stepanek beaten at Monte Carlo Masters

MONTE CARLO, Monaco, April 13 (UPI) -- No. 15-seeded Radek Stepanek was defeated Monday in first-round action of the $3.6 million Monte Carlo Rolex Masters clay-court tournament in Monaco.

Stepanek lost just two more points than he won in the match but still fell 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to Nicolas Lapentti. Stepanek had six aces but also double faulted six times in the loss.

Marin Cilic, at No. 14 the only other seeded player to have a match Monday, had little trouble in a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Flavio Cipolla. Cilic is 19-4 on the year.

In other matches Monday, Ivan Ljubicic got by Kristof Vliegen 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4; Juan Monaco defeated Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 7-4; Juan Ignacio Chela topped Igor Kunitsyn 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 and Andreas Seppi blitzed Jurgen Melzer 6-2, 6-0 in 62 minutes.

The win sent Chela into a second-round pairing against four-time defending champion and world No. 1 Rafael Nadal while Seppi next draws world No. 2 Roger Federer on Wednesday.

Also claiming first-round wins were Victor Hanescu, Marcel Granollers, Marc Gicquel, Oscar Hernandez and Andreas Beck.

The Monte Carlo titlist will take home $580,500.