TENNIS in DEPTH.

Gael Monfils suffered an early exit in the ATP Western & Southern Financial Group Masters at the hands of qualifer Alejandro Falla.

The Colombian converted three of his four break-point chances on his way to recording an impressive 6-3 6-4 triumph in just over an hour.

Next up for Falla in Cincinnati will be Germany’s Philipp Kohschreiber, who battled back to beat Horacio Zeballos 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 6-4.

However James Blake fell at the first hurdle, the former champion suffering a 6-3 6-0 loss at the hands of Russian Denis Istomin in just 45 minutes.

“I didn’t have my best, or even close to my best. I haven’t felt prepared for a tournament for a long time thanks to a lot of injuries,” the American said.

“I’ve felt like things have been getting better, and then you get setback after setback and it takes its toll.”

There was better news for Blake’s compatriot Mardy Fish, as he knocked out Frenchman Gilles Simon 7-6 (7-4) 7-5.

Andy Murray now knows he will face Jeremy Chardy in his opening match after the Frenchman eliminated German Florian Mayer 6-2 7-6 (7-4).

Julien Benneteau won an all-French tussle with Michael Llodra 3-6 6-3 6-2, while Richard Gasquet rallied from a poor opening set to triumph 2-6 6-4 6-1 against Russian Mikhail Youzhny.

In early second round action, seventh seed Tomas Berdych saw off the challenge of Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 6-4 6-4, while Marcos Baghdatis won a final-set tie-breaker to knock out Thomaz Bellucci 6-2 4-6 7-6 (7-4).

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Three seeds were all victorious in first round singles action of the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank Tuesday afternoon at Montreal’s Uniprix Stadium.

Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova (11), Flavia Pennetta of Italy (15) and Belarusian Victoria Azarenka (16) have all advanced to the second round.

While Kuznetsova’s victory over her compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova needed three sets (7-5, 4-6, 6-1), those of Pennetta over Slovak Daniela Hantuchova (6-0, 7-5), and Azarenka against Kateryna Bondarenko of the Ukraine (6-1, 6-2) didn’t cause any problems.

Canadian Heiki El Tabakh, the lone player from Canada to advance through the qualifying draw, had a tough time against Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova. The Russian broke her four times en route to a decisive 6-1, 6-2 victory in 68 minutes.

American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan, Hungary’s Agnes Szavay and Russian Ekaterina Makarova also advanced to the next round after the day’s matinee session.

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The Rogers Cup has lost its top-ranked Canadian as local favourite Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, Que., fell in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 to Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland in front of a strong centre-court crowd at Uniprix Stadium on Monday night.

It was the first time Wozniak, ranked 53rd in the world, had faced the 49th ranked Bacsinszky in her career.

Bacsinszky’s serve was extremely erratic with a first serve percentage of only 39 per cent, but Wozniak was unable to take advantage and ultimately fell in the first round of her home tournament for a second straight year.

Wozniak began the match well with three service winners and an ace in the opening game, but her game began to go downhill when Bacsinszky broke her serve to go ahead 2-1 in the first set.

Wozniak wasted a break point opportunity in the subsequent game and then double faulted twice to hand Bacsinszky another break for a 4-1 lead.

It was the same pattern in the second set as Bacsinszky got a break to go ahead 3-1 and never looked back, winning in straight sets in a swift 64 minutes.

It was only Wozniak’s second tournament since losing to Jelena Jankovic in the second round at Wimbledon in June as she has battled tendinitis in her right forearm.

There was some question as to whether Wozniak would be able to play in Montreal, and she was wearing tape on the damaged forearm during Monday evening’s match.

The tournament also lost all of its Canadian content in the doubles portion on day one.

Marie-Eve Pelletier of Repentigny, Que., and Toronto’s Sharon Fichman fell 6-3, 7-5 to the team of Daniela Hantuchova and Caroline Wozniacki. Heidi El Tabakh of Oakville, Ont., and Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino also dropped their first round match 6-2, 6-1 to the sixth-seeded team of Yung-Jan Chan and Jie Zheng.

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Andy Roddick booked his place in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters following a 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 win over Sergiy Stakhovsky.

After taking the first set, the two-time champion blew a 5-2 lead in the second-set tiebreaker before breaking early in the third to seal the match.

“That third set was actually a blessing in disguise. That’s the best I’ve played in months,” said the American.

But 14th seed Nicolas Almagro was beaten by Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3 6-3.

The Spaniard was the only seed to fall in the first round, while Taylor Dent, ranked 83rd in the world, set up a second-round encounter against world number one Rafael Nadal after beating Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-2.

Tenth seed David Ferrer was taken to three sets in a 3-6 6-3 6-4 victory over Alexandr Dolgopolov but 13th seed Jurgen Melzer had little trouble in dispatching qualifier Santiago Giraldo 6-1 6-4.

There were also wins for Thiemo de Bakker, Sam Querrey, Thomaz Bellucci and Michael Berrer.

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Dinara Safina claimed just a third win in her past 11 matches after beating first-round opponent Andrea Petkovic at the Rogers Cup in Montreal.

Safina, ranked 70 in the world, showed glimpses of her best as she took one hour and 40 minutes to overcome Germany’s Petkovic 6-3 6-3.

Injury and poor form this year has resulted in Safina’s slide down the rankings with the 24-year-old having failed to win twice at a tournament since the Australian Open in January – when she withdrew in the fourth round with a back complaint.

The Russian will face either compatriot and 18th seed Nadia Petrova or Lucie Safarova in the next round.

Israel’s Shahar Peer was the only seed to fall on the opening day of the hard-court tournament after the 14th seed lost 6-3 6-3 against Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi.

Fellow seeds Yanina Wickmayer (13) and Aravane Rezai (16) both progressed.

Qualifier Iveta Benesova booked a second-round meeting with top seed Jelena Jankovic after the Czech brushed aside Sara Errani 6-3 6-2.

Benesova was joined in the round-of-32 by fellow qualifiers Jarmilla Groth and Vania King while veteran Patty Schnyder, a lucky loser, battled from a set down to beat Virginie Razzano 6-7 (7/4) 7-5 6-3 and set up a meeting with second seed Caroline Wozniacki.

Local hopeful Stephanie Dubois lost to Klara Zakopalova in three sets in the final match of the day while Sybille Bammer, Yaroslava Shvedova and Timea Bacsiznsky also won through.

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Sam Stosur has returned to the training track after taking 10 days off to get over an arm injury that has been troubling the world No.5 for the past 12 months.

After a series of doctors appointments and an MRI, Stosur took doctors’ advice and shelved her racquets.

“I’m taking a few weeks off from playing and practice but working hard on my fitness, strength and agility. If all goes well I should be playing in New Haven and then the US Open, fingers crossed,” she told samstosur.com.

Stosur is planning to return to the practice court with coach Dave Taylor in the coming week, but will continue off-court work until then.

Stosur has been one of the busiest players on the WTA tour this year, playing 50 matches for a 38-12 win-loss record. The hard work has yielded a title in Charleston, finals at the French Open and Stuttgart and semifinal showings at Stanford, Eastbourne and Indian Wells.

The 26-year-old Queenslander was granted a wildcard into New Haven last week, which she will use as a tune-up for the final Grand Slam tournament of the year, the US Open.

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Andy Murray will head into the US Open without a coach after claiming one of his most satisfying tournament successes with victory in the ATP Rogers Cup.

The Scot followed up his last-four victory over Rafael Nadal in Toronto with a 7-5 7-5 triumph over Roger Federer in the final.

The victory ensured Murray’s first success over the world’s top two players in the same tournament and was only his second straight-sets win over the Swiss.

The triumph was all the more impressive given Murray parted company with coach Miles Maclagan last month.

He has since reached two finals, losing to Sam Querrey in the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles before his success in Canada.

Murray now takes part in the Western and Southern Group Masters in Cincinnati before the US Open begins on August 30, and he will continue as he is, following his first tournament triumph of the year.

“I said at the start that I would like to have a coach, I think most players would like to have a coach,” the 23-year-old told BBC Scotland.

“But I want to have the right person working with me and have the structure and set-up I would like. I’m not going to rush into anything.

“I’m sure after the US Open I will look hard at the type of person I would like to work with. But I can’t see myself making any changes before the US Open.”

Murray, who has now won seven of his 12 meetings against Federer, admitted he had enjoyed being on court more than in recent months as he successfully defended his title.

Murray added: “I felt pretty free on the court this week. I was going for my shots and had a game plan that I stuck to and when I wasn’t in tough positions I kept going for my shots.

“I felt a lot more comfortable – I didn’t feel I was on the defensive to much. You have to do that sometimes when you’re playing against probably the two best tennis players of all time.

“But I was able to dictate a lot of points against Rafa and Roger, and that hasn’t always been the case.

“The whole week was very good. I was a bit inconsistent at the start but I played some very good tennis before the quarter-finals and the last few matches will definitely give me confidence in the next few weeks.

“I’ll try to play well in Cincinnati but if not then preparations have gone very well so far and I’ll try to keep it going before the US Open.”

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Maria Sharapova has withdrawn from the Rogers Cup a day before the event is set to begin in Montreal.

Sharapova was injured Sunday in the final of a WTA event in Cincinnati, losing to Kim Clijsters. She required treatment on her heel in the 2-6, 7-6, 6-2 loss.

“Another tough final for me today, I had my chances and did not take them,” Sharapova wrote on a statement posted on her website. “Kim is such a great champion and really showed it after the rain delay. I felt some pain in my foot late in the second set which kind of scared me so I have been forced to pull out of Montreal. I am hoping I just need a few days of rest.”

Jelena Jankovic is the top seed and was quoted as saying “I’ve been No. 1 two years ago, and finished 2008 as the No. 1 player in the world. I have achieved that, a dream come true for me,” said Jankovic.  ”In this moment I’m not thinking about that. Playing my tennis, working hard and improving, and doing well in the big events, that is my goal.

“I had injuries, just came back from an ankle injury, so I really don’t have high expectations of myself,” Jankovic added. “I just want to go on the court and play the best that I can, and hopefully get as many matches as possible.”

Sharapova had been seeded 12th at the Rogers Cup and was to play Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic in the first round.

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