seed John Isner, playing for the first time since helping the US defeat Switzerland in Davis Cup, defeated Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (4) in the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships Tuesday. Isner's doubles partner, Sam Querrey also advanced to the second round with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory against Alejandro Falla of Colombia. In other men's first-round matches, James Blake, participating in his first ATP Tour match since encountering knee problems late last fall, dropped a 6-0, 6-2 decision to fellow American Ryan Sweeting. Ryan Harrison was another American to progress to the second round, beating compatriot Jack Sock 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, while Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky downed American Robert Kendrick 6-3, 7-6 (6). In the Memphis International, the accompanying Women's Tennis Association event, No. 2 seed Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan defeated Canada's Rebecca Marino, a finalist in last year's tournament, 6-2, 6-4, in first-round play. Unseeded Varvara Lepchenko, who became a US citizen in September, upset No. 7 seed Johanna Larsson of Sweden, 6-2, 6-4, to move into the third round along with No. 5 Pauline Parmentier of France. Parmentier defeated Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. In other second-round matches, Marina Erakovic, the fourth-seeded New Zealander, was a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Russia's Evgeniya Rodina and Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands beat Belarus' Olga Govortsova 7-6 (2), 6-3. Top players advance In Buenos Aires, led by top-seed David Ferrer of Spain, seeded players had an easy day Tuesday as almost all moved through to the second round of the clay-court Copa Claro. Ferrer had no trouble beating Argentine Andres Molteni 6-1, 6-0. No. 2 Nicolas Almagro of Spain advanced against Potito Starace of Italy 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), and No. 3 Gilles Simon of France defeated Rui Machado of Portugal 6-3, 7-5. No. 5 Juan Monaco of Argentina moved on when Filippo Volandri of Italy retired in the second set with an injury. Monaco was leading 6-1, 3-1. Fernando Verdasco of Spain also reached the next round, beating Eric Prodon of France 6-4, 6-1. But Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina lost to Albert Ramos of Spain 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. David Nalbandian defeated Wayne Odesnik of the US 6-2, 6-3. In other matches, Benoit Paire of France defeated Javier Marti of Spain 2-6, 7-6 (0), 6-2 and Igor Andreev of Russia won over Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia 6-2, 6-2. Tsonga in quarters In Marseille, France, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France and Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia won in straight sets Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Open 13. The top-seeded Tsonga did not face any break points, winning 36 of his 41 service points to beat Nicolas Mahut 6-3, 6-2. Tsonga took a 3-0 lead in the first set and broke Mahut twice in the second. He will next play Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who cruised past Flavio Cipolla of Italy 6-3, 6-0. The third-seeded Tipsarevic saved six break points to oust Belgian qualifier David Goffin 6-4, 6-2. Tipsarevic slammed an ace to take the first set and clinched victory with a forehand pass down the line. In the first round, Alexandr Dolgopolov rallied to beat Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-3. The sixth-seeded Ukrainian broke for a 3-1 lead in the final set and will next face Michael Llodra of France, who defeated Swiss qualifier Marco Chiudinelli 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3).
