Wawrinka advances in Buenos Aires
Third-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland defeated Paolo Lorenzi 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday to reach the second round of the Copa Claro clay-court tournament in Buenos Aires.
Wawrinka dominated the Italian throughout the match and closed out with a forehand down the line.
"I feel great," Wawrinka said. "I got through in two sets. I feel on a good level for the first (match)."
Wawrinka has been studying Spanish and was asked to test out his progress.
"I've improved a little bit," he said in English. "Only if I make the final I will try to speak in Spanish. It's not easy. Too much pressure."
Second-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain also reached the second round Monday.
Top-seeded David Ferrer's late match against Agustin Velotti was postponed after rain earlier pushed the schedule back leaving only a few hundred fans on hand at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club.
In a slight upset, No. 7 Pablo Andujar of Spain was beaten in the first round on Tuesday by countryman Albert Montanes 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.
In other first-round results on Tuesday, Julian Reister of Germany defeated Martin Alund of Argentina, 7-5, 6-1, and Tommy Robredo of Spain advanced against Gastao Elias of Portugal, 6-3, 6-0.
Spain's Daniel Gimeno-Traver defeated Dusan Lajovic of Serbia, 6-4, 7-5, Leonardo Mayer of Argentina won over Simone Bolelli of Italy, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3, and Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia beat Filippo Volandri of Italy, 7-6 (5), 6-3.
