Simon advances at Brisbane International

BRISBANE, Australia, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Second-seeded Gilles Simon opened his 2012 schedule with a straight-set win in first-round play at the Brisbane International tennis tournament in Australia.

Simon knocked off Ryan Sweeting 6-3, 6-4 while taking two-thirds of the points on serve. He faced one break point in each set, losing one in the first set. Both players won 74 percent of the points on their first serves but Simon claimed 66 percent of the points off Sweeting's second serve.

Denis Istomin moved into the second round when fourth-seeded Florian Mayer was unable to continue their match because of a back injury. Istomin was up 7-6 (7-5), 2-3 when the match was stopped.

Eighth-seeded Bernard Tomic needed 2 1/2 hours to fight off Julien Benneteau 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. Tomic had 21 break-point chances in the match, including 11 in the third set before finishing off the win.

Gilles Muller defeated Ricardo Mello 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 and Marcos Baghdatis topped Ryan Harrison 7-6 (9-7).