New Zealand No 1 Mark Nielsen was beaten in three tight sets by Italian Leonardo Azzaro in a first-round singles match at the $US25,000 ($60,700) Gallagher International Tennis Challenger in Hamilton yesterday.
Nielsen gained an early 4-1 lead in the first set and showed plenty of attacking flair to take the
set 6-3. The second was a role reversal as the left-handed Italian raced away for a 6-1 win.
In the third set, the 23-year-old from North Harbour had several opportunities to take a significant lead after breaking Azzaro's serve in the fourth game to be ahead 3-1, but was then broken himself and eventually lost the set and match 5-7.
Nielsen was dealt a double blow when his regular doubles partner Yong Il Yoon, of Korea, was forced to pull out of the doubles with a back strain.
Nielsen and Yoon were drawn to play Kiwis Robert Cheyne and Jacob Olsen.
Yoon, the tournament's second seed in the singles, retired from his first-round match with Irishman Scott Barron at 2-6, 2-2.
Cheyne and Olsen will now play the British combination of Arvind Parmar and Martin Lee.
Defending champion American Michael Joyce scored a straight sets win over Australian Dejan Petrovic and Uzbekistan No 1, Oleg Ogordov, could not find any form in the lead-up to next month's Davis Cup tie against New Zealand.
The sixth-seeded Ogorodov was beaten in three sets by Austrian qualifier Martin Spottl.
Spottl was forced to call for an injury break during the qualifying rounds when a new tongue stud caused his tongue to swell and disrupt his breathing.
Eighth-seed Noam Behr, from Israel, was the other seed to lose in yesterday's session, going down to countryman Noam Okun in straight sets.
- NZPA
