Coria, Gaudio ousted in Chile

Ex-champs Guillermo Coria and Gaston Gaudio both lost their first round matches at the Movistar Open in Vina Del Mar, Chile. Coria, who is competing in his first ATP level match since the 2006 US Open, lost to Pueblo Cuevas 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Coria actually won this title in 2001 by defeating Gaston Gaudio in three sets.

Gaudio, who won the title in 2005, lost to Santiago Ventura 6-3, 6-0. Gaudio hasn’t won an ATP-level match since the 2007 French Open, where he defeated Marc Gicquel in the first round in five sets.

Also falling was sixth-seeded Oscar Hernandez of Spain. He lost to Juan Pablo Brzezicki of Argentina 7-6(4), 6-1.

Two seeded player did win their first round matches, as #3 Juan Monaco and #7 Jose Acasuso both moved on. Monaco defeated Nicolas Lapentti 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 and will face either Martina Vassallo Arguello or Olivier Patience in the second round. Acasuso took down Peter Luczak 6-2, 6-4 and awaits the winner between two qualifiers: Eduardo Schwank and Daniel Gimeno-Traver.

The two top seeds, Fernando Gonzalez and Juan Ignacio Chela, have yet to play their first round matches.

Karatantcheva wins in debut

Former Academy student Sesil Karatantcheva won the first tournament she played in since coming back from a two-year doping suspension. She won the Coca Cola Futures Stars event in Surprise, Phoenix, a $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit women’s event at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex.

Karatantcheva entered the event by winning a local wild card tournament the previous week. She was unseeded and unranked and began by defeating the fifth-seed (and world #194) Sunitha Rao, went on to beat the second-seeded Viktoria Kutuzova (world #172), and finished it off with a three set victory over eighth-seeded Angela Haynes (world #201).

Karatantcheva had a breakthrough year in 2005, reaching the quarterfinals of the French Open and upsetting Venus Williams in the third round. Later that year she received a two-year ban for twice testing positive for the steroid nandrolone. The ban ended January 1st, 2008.

I still feel that she can be a top player on the WTA Tour. She is very athletic and not afraid to take risks.