AMERSFOORT, Netherlands, July 16 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Spaniard Albert Costa needed three sets Tuesday, but avoided a second straight first-round upset at the Energis Open claycourt tournament.
Costa dropped the first two games of the second set and fought off three break points in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over qualifier Oleg Ogorodov of Uzbekistan, improving to 7-1 in the all-time series.
Costa won the French Open, but was ousted in the first round at Gstaad last week by French qualifier Paul-Henri Mathieu.
"I stopped playing completely for about 20 days, so my confidence was slightly lower than normal coming back last week," said Costa, a claycourt player who skipped Wimbledon. "If you have to hit winners, you have to be confident and you have to move well. At Roland Garros, I felt I couldn't miss a ball. Today, I felt like I couldn't get one in."
Third-seeded Gaston Gaudio of Argentina also needed three sets to get past the first round, while fourth-seeded Spaniard Michael Corretja had a much easier time.
Gaudio won his first meeting with Russian Nikolay Davydenko, 6-1, 1-6, 6-1, while Corretja cruised to a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Brazil's Alexandre Simoni.
Corretja won his 16th career title in Gstaad last week and is the defending champion here.
"It was difficult playing today, especially mentally," Corretja said. "I had to travel all day (Monday) and only arrived late afternoon, when I managed to practice a bit. Then I practiced quickly this morning. The courts are very different here, too, as well as the balls. There's a lot more clay on the surface, which really slows the ball down."
Qualifier John Van Lottum of the Netherlands eliminated seventh-seeded Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina, 7-5, 6-4. Zabaleta is the second seed to lose after No. 8 Olivier Rochus of Belgium was ousted Monday.
Kristian Pless of Denmark posted a 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) victory over Dutch wild card Jan Siemerink, who has played mostly Challenger events this season.
Flavio Saretta of Brazil defeated Frenchman Nicolas Coutelot, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, while Tuesday's remaining matches each went three sets. Michael Kohlmann of Germany defeated Swedish qualifier Robin Soderling, 6-7 (3-7), 6-0, 7-6 (7-5); Dutch wild card Martin Verkerk ousted Argentine qualifier Sebastian Prieto, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; and Raemon Sluiter of the Netherlands won over Belgium's Andrei Stoliarov, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.
