Almagro, Bellucci advance at Swedish Open

BASTAD, Sweden (AP) Nicolas Almagro upset fifth-seeded Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 in an all-Spanish contest on clay to reach the second round of the Swedish Open on Tuesday.

Almagro, the 2010 Bastad champion and winner of 12 clay-court titles, sealed victory on his third match point.

Sixth-seeded Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil beat Swedish wild card entrant Elias Ymer 6-4, 6-2, and next faces another Swede, Christian Lindell.

Paul-Henri Mathieu beat seventh-seeded Jeremy Chardy 7-5, 6-3 in an all-French first-round game and next plays Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, who easily defeated Marsel Ilhan of Turkey 6-2, 6-0.