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Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel—Switzerland
No. 2 seed Novak Djokovic will take the court later today at the newly named Roger Federer Arena, in what will be his first ever match in Basel.
The world No. 3 has enjoyed a productive fall season, which has included winning the title in Beijing Open and reaching the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters 1000.
The Serb, who has already qualified for the season ending Barclays ATP World Tour finals in London, will battle unseeded German Andreas Beck in first-round action.
Beck, who has increased his ranking 71 places since the start of the year, has enjoyed fruitful success this season. The 23-year-old Weingarten native has reached the quarterfinals of four Tour events, while amassing a win-loss record of 22-20.
The left-handed German has never faced his Serbian opponent on the ATP World Tour, who stands 30 place higher in the rankings.
The third largest city in Switzerland witnessed an upset on Tuesday, when No. 8 seed Philipp Kohlshcrieber went down in three sets to local favorite Marco Chiudinelli, 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-5.
Chiudinelli, who grew up with Roger Federer, riding their bikes after school to training sessions, has qualified for seven Tour-level events this season, holding an 8-11 record after defeating Kohlschrieber on Tuesday.
After claiming the first set on the strength of winning 75 percent of his first serve points, Chiudinelli's level dipped slightly in the second set, losing his serve on one occasion at 3-2.
With the match tied at one set apiece, Chiudinelli continued to remain poised while combating the hard serving of his German opponent.
After trading breaks of serve in the early stages of set three, Chiudinelli converted on a late break point chance at 5-6 to advance to the second round.
The two-hour, 15 minute battle featured 15 aces by Kohlschreiber and 11 for Chiudineli.
Kohlschreiber, who lost his sixth first-round match of the season, fell to 40-24 on the year.
With the win, Chiudinelli awaits the winner of Daniel Koellerer or Michael Lammer. The Koellerer-Lammer duel will be played later on Tuesday.
Recent Moscow quarterfinalist Evgeny Korolev improved to 17-18 on the year, defeating Simone Bolelli of Italy 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2.
Korolev, who is competing in Basel as a qualifier, overcame a shaky start in the first set by losing his serve on one occasion.
Korolev immediately rebounded in the second set, holding his nerve throughout the set which included no break point conversions by either player.
Tied at one set all, Korolev raced through the final set on the strength of four aces and two break conversions.
Korolev will now await Wednesday's first round match between No. 8 seed James Blake and Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
Other completed matches on the day included:
Jan Henrych defeating Peter Luczak 6-3, 6-4, and Viktor Troicki taming the big serve of Benjamin Becker, ousting the German 6-2, 7-6(5).
Wednesday's action in Basel will feature:
Roger Federer vs. Andeas Seppi, Fernando Gonzalez vs. John Isner, and Stanislas Wawrinka vs. Ivan Ljubicic.
Valencia Open 500—Spain
Gael Monfils kept his hopes alive of capturing one of the two remaining spots for the Barclay's ATP World Tour final on Tuesday, defeating Spaniard Marcel Granollers 6-4, 6-2.
Monfils, who was in complete control of the one hour, 10 minute contest, struck two aces while breaking his opponent on five of 10 occasions.
The Frenchman currently stands in the No. 16 position in the race to London, and will realistically need to win this week in Valencia as well as next week in Paris to qualify.
Monfils will next face Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in second round action. Garcia-Lopez defeated Simon Greul on Monday.
Fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon, who currently stands in No. 14 position in the race to London, boasted his chances of qualifying today, defeating Igor Kunitysn 6-3, 6-2.
Simon played flawlessly in advancing to the second round in 54 minutes. Winning 86 percent of his first-serve points, while converting on three-of-three break-point opportunities, the 24-year-old Nice native improved to 43-27 on the year, and 2-0 against Kunitsyn.
Simon will take a 3-2 head-to-lead over his next opponent Tomas Berdych. Berdych ousted Paul-Henri Mathieu in convincing fashion on Monday.
Elsewhere, an all-Spanish clash between No. 8 seed David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro ended when the seeded Valencia native took control of final set to progress, 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-2.
The defending champ, who improved to 5-0 against his countryman, won 76 percent of his first-serve points, while converting on 6-of-11 break point opportunities.
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