Sport - Tennis

Mirnyi advances

NOTTINGHAM JUNE 18. Max Mirnyi beat Robby Ginepri 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Samsung Open grass-court tournament on Tuesday.

The sixth-seeded Mirnyi, a top doubles player, is focusing on singles this week to prepare for Wimbledon, which begins on Monday.

Two other seeded players were eliminated. Defending champion Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden beat No. 2 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-2, 6-0, while hard-serving Greg Rusedski of Britain downed No. 3 Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-3, 6-4.

Also, top-seeded Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui beat Germany's Alexander Waske 7-6 (6-2), 6-4.

The results: Younes El Aynaoui bt Alexander Waske 7-6 (6-2), 6-4; Max Mirnyi bt Robby Ginepri 6-3, 6-4; Andre Sa bt Jamie Delgado 6-7 (6-4), 7-6 (6-2), 7-6 (6-4); Michel Kratochvil bt Stefan Koubek 6-4, 6-3; Greg Rusedski bt Jarkko Nieminen 6-4, 6-4; Taylor Dent bt Brian Vahaly 6-3, 6-4; Jonas Bjorkman bt Mikhail Youzhny 6-2, 6-0; Olivier Rochus bt Irakli Labadze 6-0, 4-1, retired

AP

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