Starace, Fognini advance at German Open

Hamburg, Germany : Spanish qualifier Pere Riba rallied to upset last year's runner-up Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 1-6, 6-0, 6-3 on Monday for a spot in the second round of the German Open.

Italian duo Potito Starace and Fabio Fognini also reached the second round, posting straight-sets wins.

Starace defeated German qualifier Bjorn Phau 7-5, 6-0. Fognini beat Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain 7-6 (4), 6-4.

In other games, Florian Mayer of Germany beat Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-4, 6-1, and Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina defeated Olivier Rochus of Belgium 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. Rochus' brother Christophe also lost, going out 6-3, 7-6 (6) to Jarkko Nieminen of Finland.

Others who advanced included Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic, Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan and Florent Serra of France.