Del Potro loses first-rounder in Tokyo

TOKYO, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro was beaten in straight sets Tuesday during first-round play at the $1.2 million Japan Open tennis tournament in Tokyo.

Del Potro was appearing in his first tournament since winning the U.S. Open last month but failed to get by qualifier Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who won 6-4, 6-4. Roger-Vasselin is ranked 189th in the world and hadn't won an ATP-level match in more than a year.

Del Potro had six chances to break Roger-Vasselin's serve but failed each time. Roger-Vasselin managed one break in each set in getting the win.

Three seeded players made it through Tuesday's first-round matches. No. 3-seeded Gilles Simons breezed by Takao Suzuki 6-3, 6-4; fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych beat Go Soeda 6-2, 6-4; and No. 8-seeded Lleyton Hewitt took out Tatsuma Ito 6-1, 7-5.

Jurgen Melzer was a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 winner over Leonardo Mayer and Fabrice Santoro won 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 over Andrey Golubev in the only match of the day that went three sets.

The tournament continues through Sunday when the Japan Open champion will be rewarded $300,000.