MOSCOW, February 27 (R-Sport) - Fourth seed Stanislas Wawrinka has become the highest-profile casualty so far at the ATP 500 tournament in Acapulco, Mexico, after a surprise first-round defeat to Italian outsider Fabio Fognini.
Fognini made light of the 26 ranking places separating him from his Swiss opponent as he ousted the world No. 17 in a 6-2, 7-6(3) victory.
Fognini now faces the winner of the only first-round match yet to be played, pitting Argentina’s former Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian against Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene.
Elsewhere Tuesday, top seed David Ferrer progressed with ease in a 6-0, 6-3 rout of Croatian Antonio Veic and now plays American qualifier Wayne Odesnik in the second round.
Still recovering from the knee injury that kept him out of the game for seven months, world No. 5 Rafael Nadal had little problem removing Argentinian qualifier Diego Sebastian Schwartzmann to book a second-round match with another Argentine, Martin Alund.
Apart from Wawrinka, two more seeds fell. Russia’s Andrei Kuznetsov bounced back from a set down to oust sixth seed Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, and seventh-seeded Frenchman Benoit Paire fared no better as Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi ousted him 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
In the women’s draw, there were few surprises as all the seeds in action reached the second round. Top seed Sara Errani led the way with a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Romania’s Alexandra Cadantu, while Carla Suarez Navarro, Alize Cornet and Romina Oprandi all won.
The Acapulco tournament is a clay-court event. It offers a $1.2 million prize fund for the men, while for the women it is a lowly WTA International event offering prize money of $235,000.
