Davydenko, Ferrer win Croatia Open matches

UMAG, Croatia, July 29 (UPI) -- Nikolay Davydenko and David Ferrer, the top two seeds, won their first-round matches Wednesday at the Croatia Open in Umag.

The top-seeded Davydenko easily beat Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-2, 6-2. The second-seeded Ferrer had a much more difficult time subduing Austrian Daniel Koellerer, finally downing him 6-1, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3 6-1, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3.

Also Wednesday, Argentina's Maximo Gonzalez knocked off third-seeded Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6) 6-1, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3; No. 6 seed Nicolas Almagro topped fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers 6-1, 6-3; Croatian Ivan Ljubicic beat Italy's Filippo Volandri 6-1, 6-4; Chile's Nicolas Massu rallied to oust Slovenia's Blaz Kavcic 5-7, 6-3, 6-2; and Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky lost 6-7 (3-7), 1-6 to Spain's Oscar Hernandez.

Thursday's matches include Davydenko versus Alberto Martin; Ferrer against Nicolas Massu; and fourth-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria against Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas.