tennis

Monaco knocked out in Movistar Open

Published Feb. 1, 2011 12:00 a.m. ET

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Two-time Movistar Open finalist Juan Monaco lost in the first round of the tournament on Tuesday, falling 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to fellow Argentine Maximo Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, who had lost his two previous matches against Monaco, closed this one out in 2 hours, 45 minutes. Both players had five service breaks, but Gonzalez pulled it off twice in the final set.

Monaco was the runner-up last year and in 2008.

Top-seeded David Nalbandian had better luck, beating fellow Argentine Carlos Berlocq 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 in just less than 2 hours.

In other first-round matches, seventh-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy beat Lukasz Kobot of Poland 7-6 (6), 6-2, and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina edged Ricardo Hocevar of Brazil 7-6 (2), 6-4.

Rui Machado of Portugal cruised past Felipe Rios of Chile 6-2, 6-0, and Colombian Santiago Giraldo, seeded eighth, rallied to beat Facundo Bagnis of Argentina 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.

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