Gulbis stuns No. 8 Ancic to advance in France; Moya, Acasuso also win

All four winners on Monday at the Open de Moselle in Metz, France, earned hard fought vicitories that are wins they all hope can help jump start the final portion of their season after recent struggles.

World No. 50 Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, who has only advanced past the first round in one tournament since the Masters Series Cincinnati event where he reached the quarterfinals, shocked No. 8 seed Mario Ancic, 7-6(3), 6-4, to advance to a second round showdown with World No. 43 Janko Tipsarevic. On the way to victory this afternoon, Gulbis smashed 11 aces, while winning 84 percent of first serve points and breaking serve on three of seven opportunities. Ancic, who reached the finals at the Marseille event in February, falls to 29-14 on a year in which he missed a chunk of the summer tournaments due to a virus. Gulbis owns a 1-0 edge against Tipsarevic, with their only meeting coming in Barcelona earlier this year on clay. Tipsarevic held off hometown French wild card Jeremy Chardy, 7-6(5), 7-5, to advance. The Serbian fired 15 aces compared to one double fault, while also winning 37 of 44 first serve points. The win marked his 22nd win of the season, which includes a win over Andy Roddick in the second round of Wimbledon.

Carlos Moya, a 32-year-old ATP Tour veteran who could make some noise in this tournament with some solid performances, won the evening session match over Albert Montanes, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, to earn a 2-1 lifetime series edge against his fellow Spaniard. Moya hammered 10 aces compared to Montanes’ four aces, while the former World No. 1 and Roland Garros champion broke serve on three occasions and won 80 percent of his first serve points. Moya is playing in his first tournament since reaching the finals at the BCR Open Romania in Bucharest. In hopes of reaching his seventh quarterfinal of the season, Moya next meets either No. 1 seed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia or Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in the second round.

In an all-Argentina showdown between two Davis Cup teammates, Jose Acasuso knocked out Guillermo Canas, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, in roughly two and a half hours. Ranked No. 47 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, Acasuso fired eight aces and saved seven of ten break points he faced. The win for Acasuso was his first ever in Metz, as he lost previously in his only other appearances in 2004 and 2005. He improved his season record to 26-22, while Canas falls to 20-20. In the second round, Acasuso meets the winner of No. 6 seed Dmitry Tursunov or local qualifier Thierry Ascione.

At a rainy AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo, only four matches were completed, on what was to be a busy day full of first round matches. American Amer Delic, Korean Hyung-Taik Lee, Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic and Tokyo wild card entrant Takao Suzuki were the four to beat the rain and advance to the second round of a very competitive field in Japan.