Ferrero ends career with a loss on home soil

Valencia, Spain – Former world No. 1 and former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero played his final match on the ATP World Tour on Tuesday.

A wild card this week, Ferrero lost to sixth-seeded fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in 7-5, 6-3 fashion on the hardcourts at the City of the Arts and Sciences at the Valencia Open. Ferrero bowed out for a last time in 1 hour, 41 minutes.

Almagro is a two-time Valencia champion (2006-07) and was a runner-up in 2008, while Ferrero captured this event back in 2003.

The 32-year-old Ferrero, who had been plagued by injuries the last two seasons, announced last month that Valencia would be his final event on the circuit.

Nicknamed "The Mosquito," Ferrero appeared in 34 career finals, capturing 16 titles. He reached the top of the rankings in September of '03.

The 15-year-pro appeared in three Grand Slam finals, including his lone victory at the 2003 French Open. He was also a 2002 French Open runner-up and lost to Andy Roddick, who retired last month, in the '03 U.S. Open finale.

Ferrero earned just under $14 million in career prize money and helped Spain capture its first Davis Cup title in 2000.

Meanwhile, top-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer topped Belgian qualifier Olivier Rochus 7-5, 7-5, Belgium's Xavier Malisse was leading Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 3-1 in the first set when the second seed retired, and France's Gilles Simon, the 2006 Valencia runner-up, was ahead of third-seeded Janko Tipsarevic 5-4 in the first set when the Serb retired. Tsonga was a runner-up in Stockholm last week.

Up next for the two-time champion and former Valencia runner-up Ferrer will be fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos.

Also on Tuesday, Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov beat Italian Filippo Volandri 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), American Sam Querrey drove out Spanish left-hander Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) and Austrian Jurgen Melzer whipped Argentine Carlos Berlocq 6-3, 6-3. Querrey should have his hands full with Almagro in his next outing.