Istomin, Hewitt advance at SAP Open

SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Seeded players Denis Istomin and Lleyton Hewitt advanced in straight sets Monday during first-round play at the SAP Open tennis tournament in California.

Istomin, seeded fifth, saved both break points he faced in defeating Roman Borvanov 6-3, 7-5. Istomin won 77 percent of the points in his 10 service games and used three service breaks to advance.

Hewitt, the No. 7 seed and who won this event in 2002, sailed past Bjorn Phau 6-3, 6-3 in 71 minutes. Hewitt dropped serve twice but broke Phau five times in nine games.

Four Americans advanced to the second round with Monday wins. James Blake topped Jesse Levine 7-5, 6-1 by winning half the points on Levine's serve and Donald Young took a tight 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 decision from Dustin Brown.

Also, Tim Smyczek got past Robert Farah 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 and Michael Russell beat Alex Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-2. Russell will go against Istomin in the second round.