ATP: Bjorkman, Mathieu, Ginepri move on at Queen's Club
London, England (Sports Network) - Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman, 12th-seeded Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu and 15th-seeded American Robby Ginepri were among Monday's first-round winners at The Artois Championships, a grass-court Wimbledon tune-up.
The 11th-seeded Bjorkman, a 2006 Wimbledon semifinalist, held off American Justin Gimelstob 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, while Mathieu snuck past Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 and Ginepri handled Brit Richard Bloomfield 6-4, 6-2 at The Queen's Club.
Fourteenth-seeded Frenchman Arnaud Clement also advanced by besting Spaniard Ivan Navarro Pastor 7-6 (7-2), 6-4.
Mild upsets came when Colombian Alejandro Falla took out 10th-seeded Frenchman Julien Benneteau 7-5, 6-3, Brit Alex Bogdanovic beat 13th-seeded Korean Hyung- Taik Lee 6-4, 6-4 and Belarusian Max Mirnyi erased 16th-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-3.
Argentine Juan Martin del Potro dismissed former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-2, 6-4, while Czech Radek Stepanek bested Italian Davide Sanguinetti 6-2, 2-0, retired.
