Johansson drops Nottingham opener
Nottingham, England (Sports Network) - Top-seeded Swede Thomas Johansson was among Monday's first-round losers at the Red Letter Days Open -- a final Wimbledon tune-up.
Czech lucky-loser Jan Vacek ousted the big-serving Johansson 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (11-13), 6-4 on the grass courts at The City of Nottingham Tennis Centre. Vacek replaced fourth-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in the draw.
The 2002 Australian Open champion and 2005 Wimbledon semifinalist Johansson captured this event in 2001 and was the runner-up here in 2004.
A pair of seeds avoided Day-1 upsets, as No. 2 Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty handled Taipei's Yeu-Tzuoo Wang 6-0, 6-3 and No. 7 Paradorn Srichaphan got past his fellow Thai Danai Udomchoke 6-3, 7-6 (7-4). Srichaphan beat Johansson in the '04 Nottingham finale.
In other action, France's Gilles Simon topped Russian qualifier Igor Kunitsyn 6-4, 6-3, Serbian qualifier Janko Tipsarevic outlasted British wild card Richard Bloomfield 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 and Italian Andreas Seppi held off Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6 (9-7), 4-6, 6-4.
The winner of this $405,000 event will collect $55,000.
Wimbledon 2006 will commence next Monday at the All England Club.
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