Gulbis, Odesnik move into second round at Legg Mason

Gulbis, Odesnik advance at Legg Mason

WASHINGTON — Ernests Gulbis beat Kevin Kim 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 to advance to the second round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic on Sunday.

Wayne Odesnik defeated Paul Capdeville 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the opening match of the main draw.

Andy Roddick is the top-seeded player in the tournament. Roddick, a three-time winner of this event, has been out of action with a right hip flexor injury since his runner-up finish at Wimbledon. Juan Martin del Potro is the defending champion and No. 2 seed.

Gulbis, who said the combination of an upset stomach following lunch and not drinking enough fluids in the humid conditions led to him “feeling physically pretty bad” during the match, gutted out the briefly rain-delayed final set by breaking Kim three times.

“I knew I needed to put more pressure on his second serve to move in,” said Gulbis, who will next play eighth-seeded Tomas Berdych. “He got a little bit shaky in a few points where I just pushed the ball back and he missed some easy shots, so I was lucky in that.”

Playing in one of only two main draw matches on the day, Odesnik won the final four games of the second set and had the only break in the third.

“I kind of relaxed and started playing my game a little bit and won the second set pretty easily,” said Odesnik, who will next take on No. 13 Igor Andreev. “In the third set, I was moving him quite a lot, which was my game plan, and I felt he got a little tired.”

The top-seeded doubles team of Bob and Mike Bryan, who won the LA Open doubles title on Sunday for their 54th career doubles title, withdrew from the Legg Mason.