Washington, DC – American top seed Mardy Fish needed three sets to beat German qualifier Bjorn Phau, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in first-round play Tuesday at the $1 million Citi Open tennis event.
Fish is trying to get back on track after starting his American summer season on a sour note. He retired in his opening-round match in Atlanta in July due to an ankle injury.
The top four seeds all made it to round two on the hardcourts at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center. Second-seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov defeated Italian Flavio Cipolla, 6-1, 6-3; third-seeded South African Kevin Anderson ousted Esteonia's Jurgen Zopp, 6-3, 6-2; and fourth-seeded German Tommy Haas upended American Michael Russell, 6-4, 6-2.
Seventh seed Benoit Paire of France was a 6-3, 7-5 first-round loser to Germany's Tobias Kamke. Eighth-seeded American Sam Querrey beat Russian Igor Andreev, 7-6 (7-2), 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-3).
Other opening-round wins came for Marco Chiudinelli, Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, Marinko Matosevic, Benjamin Becker, Ricardas Berankis and Xavier Malisse.
The Lithuanian Berankis, who lost to Querrey in the final of a tournament in Los Angeles on Sunday, advanced by besting Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, 6-4, 7-5.
The 2012 D.C. winner will collect $252,600.
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