American Michael Russell pulled off the first upset of the 2011 Los Angeles ATP tournament, rallying to topple sixth-seeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-7 (5/7), 6-0, 6-2. Tursunov, ranked 46th in the world and a title winner already this year at Rosmalen, saved two set points against his serve in the 12th game of the opening set, holding to force the tiebreaker.
After eking out the victory in the first set, however, Tursunov went flat and the 110th-ranked Russell went on to triumph in 1hr 52min. Tursunov was the only seeded player in action Monday. Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun emerged victorious from a potentially tricky first-round match, downing American wild card Robby Ginepri 6-4, 7-5. Lu needed little more than an hour and a half to defeat Ginepri, who is coming off a serious elbow injury and playing only his second ATP tournament of the year. But Lu said he knew Ginepri, owner of three career titles, would be a difficult test, even if his injury layoff has seen his ranking plummet to 370th in the world.
“He just got back, but everyone knows he’s a fighter,” Lu said. “I expected a lot of deuces. I just told myself to be strong, to keep up with him and try to win.” Lu admitted he found it a bit difficult to adjust to the conditions in Los Angeles after the sticky humidity last week in Atlanta, where he reached the quarter-finals. But he was pleased to get through to a second-round clash with third-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.
Juan Martin del Potro is also looking ahead — in particular to the US Open, scene of his breakthrough Grand Slam triumph in 2009. “I am very excited to come back to New York,” said del Potro, who didn’t get a chance to defend his title at Flushing Meadows in 2010 after a wrist injury cut short his season. “If I could start to play tomorrow I would. First I have very important tournaments before. This tournament it’s important for me — it will be my first tournament after clay and grass season.”
