seeded Denis Istomin and No. 7 Lleyton Hewitt reached the second round of the ATP Tour SAP Open Monday with straight-set victories. Uzbekistan's Istomin snapped a three-match losing streak with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over ATP tour newcomer Roman Borvanov of Moldova. Istomin reached the semifinals in his San Jose debut last year, falling to eventual champion Fernando Verdasco. Australia's Hewitt advanced with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Germany's Bjorn Phau. Former world No. 4 James Blake opened his 2011 campaign with a victory, downing qualifier Jesse Levine 7-5, 6-1. In other matches, American Donald Young defeated German Dustin Brown 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, Michael Russell edged fellow American Alex Kuznetsov 6-4, 6-2, and wild card Tim Smyczek defeated Colombian Robert Farah 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. The opening night of the tournament featured an exhibition match in which France's Gael Monfils defeated 14-time Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. Monfils emerged the winner in a lighthearted contest, taking a camera from a photographer to snap Sampras at one point. Sampras, 39, was appearing in an exibition here for the fourth straight year. He displayed his serve-and-volley skills while bantering with the crowd. Nieminen upsets Ferrer In Rotterdam, Jarkko Nieminen upset third-seeded David Ferrer 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament Tuesday. Ferrer, an Australian Open semifinalist, served five double faults and won only 54 percent of points on serve in his first opening-round loss in six months. In other matches, seventh-seeded Ivan Ljubicic beat Sergiy Stakhovsky 7-6 (3), 6-3, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, seeded eighth, defeated Grigor Dimitrov, 6-4, 6-4. Philipp Kohlschreiber downed Yen-hsun Lu 6-4, 7-6 (5). Kanepi and Kvitova advance In Paris, third-seeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia and No. 4 Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic won their first-round matches in straight sets at the Open Gaz de France Tuesday. Kanepi broke Latvian player Anastasija Sevastova's serve twice in the second set in a 7-6 (5), 6-2 win, while Kvitova served five aces in a 7-5, 6-4 win over Vesna Manasieva of Russia. There were also first-round wins for American player Melanie Oudin and Czechs Barbora Zahlavova Strycova and Klara Zakopalova. Oudin rallied to beat Vera Dushevina of Russia 7-5, 5-7, 6-2; Zahlavova Strycova won 7-6 (5), 6-3 against Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova. Zakopalova defeated Switzerland's Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 6-3. Zvonareva seeks Pattaya title In Thailand, two-time defending champion Vera Zvonareva set out for her third successive Pattaya Open title by beating Tamira Paszek of Austria 6-4, 6-2 in the first round Tuesday. The top-seeded Russian, who lost in the Australian Open semifinals to eventual champ Kim Clijsters, came from 3-1 down in the first set. Zvonareva faces Thai qualifier Nungnadda Wannasuk in the second round. Former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic won the first eight games in beating Thai wild card Nudnida Luangnam 6-0, 6-2 and will next play American veteran Jill Craybas. Also advancing were No. 4-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, and Nos. 5 and 8 Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani of Italy. However, No. 7 Zheng Jie of China lost to Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan 6-4, 7-6 (6). Hantuchova showed no sign of jet lag in her 6-2, 6-1 win over Kurumi Nara of Japan. She knows what to expect in the second round: Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm, who eased past Czech player Renata Voracova 6-2, 6-2. Vinci beat Kyrgyzstan qualifier Ksenia Palkina 6-1, 6-3 and Errani defeated Taiwan's Chang Kai-chen 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. Other first-round winners included Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa, Ayumi Morita of Japan, Elena Baltacha of Britain, and Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan.
