Marat Safin of Russia beat America's Robby Ginepri for the first time in three meetings in the first round of the Los Angeles Open.
No back-to-back titles for Indianapolis champion
Eighth-seeded Marat Safin of Russia beat America's Robby Ginepri for the first time in three meetings in the first round of the Los Angeles Open.
The former world number one staged a dramatic comeback against last week's Indianapolis champion, winning 3-6 6-3 6-4.
Safin won just one point in the final three games of the opening set but he raced into a 3-0 lead in the second set and repeated that in the third, while breaking Ginepri's serve twice.
"Robby is playing really well, coming from a title last week," Safin said. "He is a tough player. It was a well-played match from both of us. I was able to go up a break in the beginning of the second set and that helped me to turn the match around."
Giant American John Isner caused the major upset of the day with a 7-6 7-6 victory over seventh-seeded German Benjamin Becker.
Isner, who reached his first ATP semi-final of the year in Indianapolis last week, powered down 15 aces before sealing the win in just over two hours on a sun-baked afternoon at the LA Tennis Center.
"I had a good week last week and maybe I was a little bit tired today," the six-foot-nine American said after losing only four points on his first serve. "I played four long matches last week but today was starting off on a good foot."
Isner has now beaten the world-ranked 44 Becker in all of their four meetings.
Fifth-seeded Igor Kunitsyn of Russia got his title bid under way with a 7-5 6-2 win over Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman and sixth seed San Querry of the United States beat Denis Istomin 6-2 6-0.
Ernests Gulbis of Latvia beat Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 7-5 6-2, while qualifier Ryan Sweeting saw off fellow American Taylor Dent 6-4 2-6 6-3 and Australian qualifier Carsten Ball eliminated France's Marc Gicquel 6-2 7-6.
