posted on Jun, 15 2004 @ 01:52 PM
NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) - Defending champion Greg Rusedski and top-seeded Paradorn Srichaphan won first-round matches Tuesday at the Nottingham Open
grass-court tournament.
Two seeded players were eliminated from the Wimbledon tuneup - No. 4 Max Mirnyi of Belarus and No. 8 Jurgen Melzer of Austria.
Rusedski, a two-time winner in Nottingham, saved a match point in the second set beating Slovakia's Karol Kucera 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3. The British star
had 14 aces, and Kucera converted only three of 14 break points.
Rusedski, a former top 10 player and U.S. Open finalist, stopped playing for several months after confirming in January he tested positive for
nandrolone last summer. He was cleared of doping charges. Rusedski resumed singles play in April and is ranked 110th.
Paradorn, who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon last year, downed Belgium's Gilles Elseneer 6-3, 7-5. The Thai faces South Africa's Wayne Ferreira
in the second round.
Former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson of Sweden downed Mirnyi 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, and Flavio Saretta of Brazil ousted Melzer 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3).