Former No. 1 Kuerten qualifies in Vegas

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Forum Spin Doctor


Associated Press

LAS VEGAS - Former world No. 1 player Gustavo Kuerten entered the main draw of the Tennis Channel Open through an unfamiliar door Monday.
The three-time French Open champion from Brazil defeated Wesley Moodie of South Africa, 6-4, 7-5, in an elimination match. He advances to the 24-player, round-robin round, where he will play either Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic or eighth-seeded Benjamin Becker of Germany on Wednesday.
"For me, this was huge," Kuerten said. "It's going to be a busy week for me with the singles and doubles. It has been more than a year and a half since I have played more than four matches in one week."
Moodie won the first game of both sets, but Kuerten never trailed after that.
Kuerten was ranked No. 1 on Dec. 4, 2000, after he defeated Andre Agassi in the finals of the Masters Cup in Lisbon, Portugal.
Kuerten, however, had hip surgery in 2004 and played only 17 matches over the next two years. He competed in one singles match in 2006 and only got back on the court last month in Chile.
Kuerten is ranked 736th in the world and has a 2-3 record in 2007.
In another elimination match, former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson of Sweden defeated Bjorn Phau of Germany 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Eight elimination winners are added to the field, which includes 16 seeded players.
In Monday's round-robin matches, Fernando Verdasco of Spain defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu of France, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5; Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina beat Evgeny Korolev of Russia, 6-3, 6-2; Paul Goldstein of the U.S. defeated Julien Benneteau of France, 6-1, 6-0 and Sam Querrey of the U.S. bounced Alex Bogdanovic of England with a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
 
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