Sousa advances in Bastad

Bastad, Sweden (SportsNetwork.com) - Fifth-seeded Joao Sousa was among Monday's first-round winners at the Swedish Open tennis event.

The Portuguese player was actually trailing 0-1 after one game on Day 1 when his opponent, Spaniard Pere Riba, retired with a neck injury on the red clay at Bastad Tennis Stadium.

Also on Monday, Italian Paolo Lorenzi leveled Swedish wild card Markus Eriksson 6-2, 6-1 and Serb Dusan Lajovic outlasted Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4).

This week's top seeds are Spaniards David Ferrer, Tommy Robredo and Fernando Verdasco, all of who received opening-round byes. Verdasco was last year's runner-up to Argentine Carlos Berlocq. Ferrer and Robredo are two-time Bastad champions.

The 2014 Bastad titlist will collect $105,000.