Winston-Salem, NC (Sports Network) - Former World No. 7 Mardy Fish held on in a three-set match and was one of a handful of first-round winners Sunday at the $575,250 Winston-Salem Open, a final tune-up for the U.S. Open.
Fish, a wild card at this event, outlasted Russian Evgeny Donskoy with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 decision on the hardcourts at Wake Forest University.
In other first round action, Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez worked his way past Slovakian Grega Zemlja with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 decision and Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr. clipped Victor Hanescu of Romania, 6-3, 6-4.
In less than an hour's time, Yen-Hsun Lu captured a 6-1, 6-1 victory over wild card Romain Bogaerts, and Dutchman Robin Haase cruised past Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, 6-3, 6-3 to also advance to second round play.
American favorite John Isner, who hails from nearby Greensboro, North Carolina, is the two-time reigning champion, having beaten former Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych in last year's finale.
Berdych is this week's top seed.
This year's Winston-Salem winner will collect $76,900.
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