Mason, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Eleventh-seeded John Isner and former top-10 star Tommy Robredo both posted first-round victories Monday at the $3 million Western & Southern Open.
Isner, last year's runner-up to Rafael Nadal, was a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Kevin Anderson, while the 16th-seeded Robredo handled American wild card Jack Sock 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 on the hardcourts at Lindner Family Tennis Center.
Edouard Roger-Vasselin had a chance to serve out the match against 15th-seeded Fabio Fognini, but Fognini rallied for a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5) win.
Former top-10 stars Fernando Verdasco and Gael Monfils moved on, as Verdasco overcame fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) and the French Monfils got past Argentine Federico Delbonis 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
Also, 6-foot-8 Pole Jerzy Janowicz defeated Russian qualifier Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-4, 6-4; German qualifier Benjamin Becker topped 6-foot-10 Croat Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (7-5), 6-4; German Philipp Kohlschreiber held off Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; Gilles Simon downed Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-2; and Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu dismissed Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-4 on Day 2.
Additional wins came for Aussie qualifier Marinko Matosevic and Portuguese Joao Sousa.
The top seeds here are four-time Cincy runner-up Novak Djokovic and five-time champion Roger Federer.
The winner of this Masters 1000 and U.S. Open Series event will earn $638,850.
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