Juan Carlos Ferrero, Juergen Meltzer win in straight sets to reach 2nd round in Croatia

Ferrero, Meltzer into 2nd round at Croatia Open

UMAG, Croatia — Juan Carlos Ferrero defeated Christophe Rochus of Belgium 6-3, 6-2 Tuesday in the first round of the Croatia Open.

The fifth-seeded Spaniard is playing in his first tour event since reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinals last month.

Fourth-seeded Juergen Meltzer of Austria also advanced, defeating Brian Dabul of Argentina 6-3, 7-5.

Fabio Fognini of Italy rallied to beat eighth-seeded Mischa Zverev of Germany 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Frederico Gil of Portugal topped Sergio Roitman of Argentina 7-5, 6-2.

Seventh-seeded Italian Andreas Seppi also advanced, ousting Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina in three sets, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

Another Italian, Simone Bolleli, needed nearly two and a half hours to defeat qualifier Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain 7-6 (7), 3-6, 6-0.

Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay ousted wild card Croatian Ivan Dodig, 6-3, 6-1.

Potito Starace of Italy won 6-1, 6-3 over Grega Zemlja of Slovenia, who played as a replacement because Simon Gruel of Germany withdrew after fainting.

Top-seeded Nikolay Davidenko and No. 2 David Ferrer are scheduled to play Wednesday.