LOS ANGELES (AP)—Ernests Gulbis of Latvia and Germany’s Rainer Schuettler won their opening matches in the Farmers Classic tennis tournament on Monday.
Gulbis, at 21 the youngest player in the 28-man field, was a 7-5, 7-5 winner over 22-year-old Lukas Lacko of Slovakia, and Schuettler, at 34 the oldest player in the event, was leading No. 7 seed Horacio Zeballos, 6-3, 3-0, when the Argentine retired with a left shoulder injury.
They were joined in the second round by No. 6 seed Janko Tipsaveric of Serbia, who downed Colombian Santiago Giraldo, 6-1, 6-0, while Israel’s Dudi Sela outlasted Xavier Malisse of Belgium, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
Gulbis was playing for the first time since injuring a right hamstring muscle at the French Open on May 23.
“I didn’t care how I play, I just wanted to win, whatever the score, whatever the match (quality), ugly tennis or whatever, to get some wins going,” the fifth-seeded Gulbis said.
“The match was really ugly to watch. I didn’t hit too many clean shots. I was running and putting the ball back, but the only thing I did well was serving. In cases like this it’s win, whatever it takes. You push, you run, you fight, do whatever.”
Gulbis, who won his first ATP Tour title at Delray Beach, Florida earlier this year, is a potential opponent for top-seed Andy Murray in the quarterfinals.
Murray, who’s No. 4 in the world, is a wild-card replacement for second-ranked Novak Djokovic, who withdrew for personal reasons. The other top singles seeds with first round byes in this event are 2009 champion Sam Querrey of the United States, No. 3 Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus and No. 4 Feliciano Lopez of Spain.
In doubles, top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States will be seeking their sixth title here. If successful, they will overtake retired Australian stars Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge for the most championships in the Open era. Both teams have 61.