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| Gilles Simon of France advances to the second round of the Cincinnati Masters with a 6-3 6-2 victory over American Wayne Odesni! k. Simon, the ninth seed, was the highest-ranked player in ! action o n Monday as the top eight seeds all received byes. France's Gael Monfils, the 13th seed, lost 6-4 6-7 7-6 to Croat Ivo Karlovic. World number six Juan Martin del Potro has withdrawn because of fatigue having lost to Andy Murray on Sunday in the final of the Montreal Masters. Karlovic, who beat world number one Roger Federer on his way to the semi-finals last year, banged down 21 aces as he upset Monfils. The 6 foot 10 inch Karlovic won the deciding tie-break 7-2 to advance to the second round after two hours, 10 minutes. After taking the first set thanks to one break, Karlovic led 5-4 in the second-set tie-break, with two serves to come, but Monfils reeled off three superb points in a row to force a decider. The Frenchman saved three break points in the fourth game of the third set but Karlovic played a better tie-break to move through to a clash with another Fre! nchman, Paul-Henri Mathieu, a 6-7 7-5 6-3 winner over German Mischa Zverev. Simon will now play Russian Igor Andreev, who beat Nicolas Kiefer of Germany 6-1 7-5. Croatia's 14th seed Marin Cilic beat former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3 6-4. He will play David Ferrer of Spain in the second round after he beat Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 7-5 6-2. |
