No. 1 Verdasco among winners in New Haven

Top-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain defeated Israeli Dudi Sela, 6-4, 6-4, to start his Pilot Pen Tennis campaign off on the right note. The 13th-ranked Spaniard was able to capitalize early en route to earning earn his 35th victory of the season, tying his career best set in 2005. He awaits the winner of the match between No. 15 seed Eduardo Schwank and Ivo Minar.

American wild cards John Isner (pictured) and Robby Ginepri were also among the many winners on Monday at the final U.S. Open tune-up event. Isner smashed nice aces on the way to a convincing 6-4, 6-4 victory over Russian Igor Kunitsyn, while Ginepri continued his solid summer by defeating French Open doubles champion Luis Horna, 7-6(4), 6-2. The 6-foot-9 Isner will now take on 6-foot-10 Croatian Ivo Karlovic, while Ginepri is set to do battle with No. 12 seed and 2006 Pilot Pen finalist Agustin Calleri in the second round.

Other winners today included Memphis titleholder Steve Darcis, Washington finalist Viktor Troicki, and Frenchman Arnaud Clement. Darcis was ahead 7-5, 5-0, when Vince Spadea retired with a lower back injury, while Troicki and Clement defeated American qualifier qualifier Alex Bogomolov Jr., and Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci, respectively.

An All-American showcase between No. 8 Mardy Fish and Wayne Odesnik highlights the stadium court day session matches on Tuesday, while Karlovic-Isner is the featured evening session match. As expected, No. 3 seed Juan Martin Del Potro withdrew and was replaced by young American Jesse Levine.