No. 1-seed Monfils drops from tournament

SYDNEY, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- No. 1-seed Gael Monfils withdrew Monday form the Medibank International tennis tournament in Sydney because of a shoulder injury.

Monfils, from France, said his right shoulder was inflamed and he needed to rest the injury ahead of the start next week of the Australian Open. He apparently aggravated an earlier problem during last week's tournament in Brisbane, Australia, where he lost in the semifinals to Radek Stepanek.

On the court Monday, seventh-seeded Igor Andreev was defeated, losing 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) to Leonardo Mayer in the day's only match involving a seeded player.

Potito Starace was a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Frederico Gil; Richard Gasquet stopped Feliciano Lopez 6-1, 6-4; Pablo Cuevas advanced with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) win over Michael Llodra; Marcos Baghdatis beat Nick Lindahl 6-2, 7-5; and Andreas Seppi swept past Marinko Matosevic 6-4, 6-4 in the other first-round matches on Monday's schedule.