Victor Hanescu of Romania saved two match points before beating top-seeded Gael Monfils 2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-4 in the first round of the Mercedes Cup Wednesday. The match was suspended because of rain Tuesday with Monfils leading 4-2 in the first set. After clinching the set when the match resumed Wednesday, the Frenchman had two match points in the second-set tiebreaker, but Hanescu saved them and went on to complete his first win over a top-10 player after 11 losses. Monfils reached the final of the tournament last year, only to be forced to abandon the match against Albert Montanes of Spain because of injury. Montanes also lost Wednesday, going down 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 to fellow Spaniard Pablo Andujar. Marcel Granollers of Spain defeated seventh-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. Six of the eight seeded players have lost in the first round. Pervak in quarters In Bad Gastein, Austria, Russia's Ksenia Pervak saved six match points before reaching the quarterfinals of the Gastein Ladies by beating 16-year-old Nastja Kolar of Slovenia 4-6, 7-6 (8), 6-2. The eighth-seeded Pervak — the only seeded player to advance from the first round — will meet Laura Pous-Tio of Spain, who beat Germany's Kristina Barrois 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5). Carla Suarez Navarro, playing in her first WTA event since February, also advanced by defeating fellow Spanish player Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-3, 6-3 after saving all five break points she faced in the second set. Suarez Navarro next plays Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine. The 88th-ranked Bondarenko beat Sweden's Johanna Larsson, who reached the final in her native Bastad last week, 7-5, 6-0. In a late first-round match, Austria's Sybille Bammer, who came out of retirement for this event, rallied to beat sixth-seeded Simona Halep of Romania 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (6). Hewitt-Federer to meet Australia will host Switzerland in September's World Group Davis Cup playoffs, setting up a potential clash between Lleyton Hewitt and Roger Federer. Switzerland has lost all four previous meetings against the Aussies, including the 2003 World Group semi-finals, where Hewitt sealed the win with a comeback from two sets down against Federer and Australia went on to take the title that year. Meanwhile Canada, who made a comeback against Ecuador in their Zone Group I tie to reach the play-offs for the first time since 2005, will travel to Israel. South Africa faces Croatia for the first time, and Austria will travel to Belgium to extend their current 4-0 lead over their European rivals. The draw was held at the International Tennis Federation's headquarters here Wednesday. The winning nations in the World Group playoffs qualify for the 2012 World Group, while the losing nations will compete in their respective Zonal Group I competitions in 2012.
