German veteran Nicolas Kiefer upset third-seeded Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-3 Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Mercedes Cup. The 32-year-old Kiefer beat Berdych for the first time in five matches. Berdych had been hoping for his second clay-court title in Germany this year, after winning in Munich. Berdych also helped the Czech Republic reach the Davis Cup semifinals by beating Argentina last weekend. Top-seeded Gilles Simon of France advanced by defeating Philipp Petzschner of Germany 6-3, 6-4. Another German, fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber, eased into the second round by beating Diego Junqueira of Argentina 6-3, 6-2. Fabio Fognini of Italy dropped the first set but rallied to beat seventh-seeded Fabrice Santoro of France 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-1. With Germans enjoying a good day, Rainer Schuettler won only his second match on clay this year when he rallied to beat Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4, and Mischa Zverev defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-2, 6-4. In an all-German encounter, Simon Greul beat Davis Cup player Andreas Beck 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5). Alexandre Sidorenko of France, a “lucky loser” from qualifying, defeated another Spaniard, Daniel Munoz-De La Nava, 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-2. Oscar Hernandez notched one Spanish victory when he beat Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-4, 6-4, and Jeremy Chardy of France upset eight-seeded Jose Acasuso of Argentina 6-2, 7-6 (4). Canas beats Dimitrov In Sweden, Guillermo Canas of Argentina beat 2008 Wimbledon junior champion Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-3, 7-6 (2) Tuesday in the first round of the Swedish Open. Juan Monaco beat eighth-seeded Maximo Gonzalez 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-1 in an all-Argentine match. Bjorn Phau of Germany, Potito Starace of Italy, Austria's Daniel Koellerer, Peter Luczak of Australia, Kristof Vliegen of Belgium and Juan Monaco of Argentina also reached the second round of the clay-court tournament. Cornet exits, Pennetta thru In Italy, New Swedish Open champion Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain ousted third-seeded Alize Cornet of France 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of the Palermo Open on Tuesday. Home favorite and top seed Flavia Pennetta began her 10th bid to win Palermo, easing into the second round with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Arantxa Parra Santonja from Spain. Sara Errani, seeded fifth, began her title defense by defeating Ukraine's Mariya Koryttseva 6-4, 6-4. Sixth-seeded Ekaterina Makarova of Russia beat Jill Craybas of the US 6-3, 6-1, but No. 8 Gisela Dulko of Argentina, a semifinalist in Bastad, was knocked out by Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Argentina 6-4, 6-1. On Monday, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova exited in the first round when she retired hurt in her opening match against Spain's Alberta Brianti. Nadal plans Montreal return World number two Rafael Nadal plans to resume training on Monday and compete at next month's Montreal Masters as he recovers from tendinitis in his knees, according to a statement on his website on Tuesday.
