Youzhny, Granollers win at China Open

BEIJING, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Mikhail Youzhny and Marcel Granollers posted first-round upsets Tuesday at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing.

Youzhny defeated fourth-seeded Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-2 in 69 minutes. The Russian dropped serve just once in the match and collected five breaks over nine Almagro service games.

Granollers, whose match also lasted 69 minutes, beat No. 5-seeded Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-1. He converted all five of his break chances and won 70 percent of the points on serve.

The tournament lost two other seeds as No. 2 Gael Monfils withdrew with a right knee problem and No. 7 John Isner also pulled out before his first-round match.

Top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga took a tight 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 decision from Grigor Dimitrov and No. 3-seeded Tomas Berdych didn't lose his serve in a 7-5, 7-5 win over Jurgen Melzer.

Zhang Ze claimed a 6-1, 6-3 win over Li Zhe in a battle of Chinese wild-card entrants.

Also Tuesday, as the first round was completed, Philipp Kohlschreiber defeated Tommy Robredo 6-3, 7-6 (7-0); Ivan Ljubicic got past Teymuraz Gabashvili 7-5, 7-5; Albert Montanes raced by Paul Capdeville 6-3, 6-3; Fabio Fognini won a 6-4, 6-1 decision over Grega Zemlja; and Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Thomaz Bellucci 6-1, 7-6 (7-4).

Zemlja and Gabashvili were inserted into the draw as replacements for Monfils and Isner.