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Querrey, Malisse win openers at Delray Beach ITC

Xavier Malisse in his opening match Monday against Alejandro Falla at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships.

By Palm Beach Business.com

DELRAY BEACH — Third-seeded Sam Querrey of the U.S. and eighth-seeded Xavier Malisse easily won their opening matches Monday as the Delray Beach ITC rolled into the main draw of the ATP World Tour competition.

Querrey won his match against Amerian Mike Russell when the former University of Miami player was forced to retire because of a leg injury. Russell received treatment during an injury timeout late in the first set and continued playing into the second set but retired with the score 2-2.

Querrey won the first set 6-2.

Earlier in the day, Xavier Malisse of Belgium used a strong serve to ease past Alejandro Falla of Columbia, 6-3, 6-3. Malisse, the winningest player in ITC history with a record of 25-10, is attempting to win the Delray tournament for the third time in his career.

The day wasn’t so kind to Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine. The tournament’s fifth seed lost to Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-3, 6-3. Coming into Delray, Dolgopolov was ranked 22 in the world; Dodig 62.

NOTES: Tuesday evening, American John Isner, the tournament’s top seed, takes on Jesse Levine of Canada beginning after 8:30. Isner, 27, currently is ranked 15th in world. He was the top seed in the ITC a year ago but lost to eventual champion Kevin Anderson of South Africa in a semi-final match. Anderson is seeded sixth.  … 2010 ITC champion Ernests Gulbis of Latvia won a spot in the main draw by defeating Denys Molchanov of Ukraine 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-4 in a qualifying match. Others winning a spot in the main draw through qualifying play were Americans Tim Smyczek and Bobby Reynolds and Daniel Munoz-De La Nava of Spain.  … The Hawk-eye video challenge system made it’s debut Monday as well.

Tuesday’s schedule:

— 11 a.m. Max Mirnyi/Horia Tecau vs Andre Sa/Igor Zelenay in doubles competition.
— Not before 12:30 p.m: James Blake vs Ernests Gulbis. 
— Not before 2:30 p.m.: Tommy Haas vs Igor Sijsling.

— 6:30 pm: Kei Nishikori vs Ivo Karlovic.
— Not Before 8:30 pm: John Isner vs Jesse Levine .

Alejandro Falla of Colombia backhands against Querrey Monday afternoon.