SANTIAGO, Chile (AP)—Two-time Movistar Open finalist Juan Monaco lost in the first round of the tournament on Tuesday, falling 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to fellow Argentine Maximo Gonzalez.
Gonzalez, who had lost his two previous matches against Monaco, closed this one out in 2 hours, 45 minutes. Both players had five service breaks, but Gonzalez pulled it off twice in the final set.
Monaco was the runner-up last year and in 2008.
Top-seeded David Nalbandian had better luck, beating fellow Argentine Carlos Berlocq 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 in just under 2 hours.
In other first-round matches, seventh-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy beat Lukasz Kobot of Poland 7-6 (6), 6-2, and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina edged Ricardo Hocevar of Brazil 7-6 (2), 6-4.
Rui Machado of Portugal cruised past Felipe Rios of Chile 6-2, 6-0, and Colombian Santiago Giraldo, seeded eighth, rallied to beat Facundo Bagnis of Argentina 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Brazilians Joao Souza and Caio Zampieri also advanced. Souza beat Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas 6-4, 7-5, and Zampieri posted a tight 7-6 (7), 7-5 win over Nicolas Massu of Chile.