TOKYO, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Lars Burgsmuller of Germany led four seeded men's players into the second round at the $870,000 Japan Open hardcourt tennis event Tuesday.
Burgsmuller, the highest seed in action at No. 9, held off Michael Llodra of France, 7-6 (7-3), 2-6, 6-2, to snap a 10-match losing streak. In the second round, Burgsmuller will face Hyng-Taik Lee of Korea, who posted a 7-6 (7-1), 6-4 win over Germany's Markus Hantschk.
No. 11 Nicolas Mass of Chile defeated Edwin Kempes of the Netherlands, 6-4, 6-4; 14th-seeded Wayne Arthurs of Australia rallied past Czech Radim Zitko, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1, and No. 15 Michael Russell of the United States beat Neville Godwin of South Africa, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1).
However, 12th seed Andrew Ilie of Australia was dealt a 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 loss by Takao Suzuki of Japan, and No. 13 Alex Calatrava of Spain was ousted by Ivo Heuberger of Switzerland, 6-3, 6-1.
On the women's side, third seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan dispatched Hungarian Zsofia Gubacsi, 6-4, 6-1. Sixth seed Rita Grande of Italy outlasted Slovakia's Tina Pisnik, 7-5, 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, and seventh-seeded Nathalie Dechy of France cruised past Rachel McQuillan of Australia, 6-1, 6-4.
No. 4 Meilen Tu of the United States was the only female seed to fall Tuesday when Emmanuelle Gagliardi of Switzerland posted a 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory.
Top seeds Lleyton Hewitt of Australia. the U.S. Open champion, and Monica Seles of the United States play second-round encounters. Hewitt takes on Germany's Marc-Kevin Goellner and Seles meets Yoon-Jeong Cho of Korea.
