Russian Igor Andreev opened the Winston-Salem Open with an upset, blasting by second seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer 7-5, 6-3 on Monday to reach the second round of ATP Tour's newest tournament.
With most of the top players taking the week off ahead of the Aug. 29-Sept. 11 US Open, 79th ranked Andreev grabbed the spotlight by brushing aside the 17th ranked Melzer to notch his first win since Wimbledon.
The loss added to a miserable North American hard court campaign for Melzer, who also fell at the first hurdle in Washington and last week in Cincinnati.
After first round exits in Montreal and Cincinnati, eighth seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis got his season back on track with routine 7-5, 6-1 win over American Ryan Sweeting.
Frenchman Julien Benneteau was also an easy winner rolling over Brazil's Ricardo Mello 6-1, 6-3.
Photograph: Getty Images
