Fish, Mahut win at Hall of Fame

NEWPORT, R.I., July 6 (UPI) -- Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, who lost a record-long match at Wimbledon, won his first match at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships Tuesday.

Mahut, a wild-card entrant in the Newport, R.I., tourney, eliminated third-seeded Colombian Alejandro Falla 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. Two weeks ago Mahut spent 11 hours, 5 minutes over three days battling American John Isner in a first-round loss at the All England Club. It only took him 1 hour, 23 minutes to dispatch Falla, who was playing in his first ATP match since falling to Roger Federer in five sets at Wimbledon.

Also winning an opening-round match on Newport's grass courts Tuesday was American Mardy Fish. The fifth-seeded Fish defeated fellow American Michael Russell handily, 6-1, 6-2.

Other Newport winners were Indian Somdev Devvarman, American wild card Denis Kudla and Argentine Brian Dabul.

The winner of this $500,000 event will collect $75,700.