Davydenko, Ferrer advance at Estoril Open

Oeiras, Portugal:

Second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko rallied from two breaks down in the second set to beat Andrey Golubev 6-1, 7-6 (4) on Tuesday in the first round of the Estoril Open.

Davydenko, who recently returned after a two-month injury break, overpowered Golubev in the first set after breaking his opponent's serve in the opening game.

The 100th-ranked Golubev battled back in the second set, twice breaking Davydenkov to take a 4-1 lead. But the 11th-ranked Russian then collected three straight games before taking the tiebreaker.

Earlier, third-seeded David Ferrer won 16 points in a row as he recovered from a weak start to beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-4, 6-1.

Gimeno-Traver, targetting Ferrer's weak backhand, twice broke his opponent to take a 3-0 lead in the opening set.

But the 14th-ranked Ferrer won four games in a row in a powerful fightback that gave him his first match victory at Estoril.

In 2002 and 2003 the Spaniard went out in the first round.

Seventh-seeded Spaniard Albert Montanes overcame Ryan Sweeting of the United States 6-1, 7-6 (4), and eighth-seeded Frenchman Florent Serra defeated Argentina's Diego Junqueira 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

Ivan Navarro of Spain beat compatriot Alberto Martin 7-5, 6-4, and Germany's Simon Greul went past Brazilian Ricardo Hocevar 6-1, 6-4.

In the women's event, second-seeded Maria Kirilenko beat Sharon Fichman 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-3 and third-seeded Sorana Cirstea won 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 against Kimiko Date Krumm.

Sabrine Lisicki, seeded fourth, triumphed 6-2, 6-2 over Kirsten Flipkens, while seventh-seeded Shahar Peer rallied to beat local favorite Michelle Brito 4-6, 6-0, 6-0.