Bhupathi ousted in first round of Gold Flake Open

India's Mahesh Bhupathi was ousted in the first round of the Gold Flake ATP Tour Tennis Championship in Madras on Monday. A Staliarov of Russia upset Bhupathi 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2).

Fourth-seeded Byron Black of Zimbabwe, winner of the title in 1999, survived some anxious moments before progressing to the second round.

In his first-round match, Black, ranked 34th in the world, was stretched to the decider by qualifier Nikolay Davydenko of Russia. Black, who was not his usual self, won 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in 120 minutes, the longest singles match on the opening day.

Earlier, two seeds were shown the exit, while Indian Davis Cupper Syed Fazaluddin dished out a mediocre game against a powerful serve-and-volley player, Adrian Voinea of Romania, at 6-4, 6-2.

David Sanchez of Spain caused a major upset when he outclassed last year's runner-up Markus Hanstschk, seeded seventh, of Germany 6-3, 6-3, while Edwin Kempes of the Netherlands eliminated eighth-seeded Jiri Vanek of the Czech Republic 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-3.

In another first-round encounter, Michal Tabara of the Czech Republic moved to the second round with a facile 6-3, 6-3 win over Fernando Gonzalez of Chile.

In the doubles, Magnus Norman of Sweden and Oleg Ogorodov of Uzbekistan were defeated by P Rosner (Russia) and Weir Smith (South Africa) 5-7, 6-4, 7-5, while Tabara and Tomas Zib of the Czech Republic beat T Roberedo and M Youzhny of Russia 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 to fill the last slot in the main draw.

PTI