MONTREAL, 6 August 2003 — Arnaud Clement and Simon Larose caused the first upsets of the $2.45 million Montreal Masters on Monday with respective victories over Carlos Moya and Gustavo Kuerten in opening round matches.

Clement, the French world number 33, contained the fourth seeded Spaniard’s strength from the baseline with a string of stunning volleys to move into the last 32 with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 victory.

“I was surprised at the level of my game,” Clement said.

Moya praised his opponent while admitting that he had been outplayed.

“It was not an easy first round match and I think he played well,” Moya said.

The center court crowd witnessed a second shock win when Canadian wildcard Larose — the world number 314 — battled hard to oust the 13th-seeded Brazilian 7-5, 7-6.

“I didn’t want him to settle at all. I just kept my cool and went for it,” the 25 year-old Larose said after registering his first victory over a player ranked in the top-200.

However, top seed and world number one Andre Agassi was in no mood to be part of an upset as he eased to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Canada’s Frederic Niemeyer, another wildcard. “He certainly has a big serve and likes to take risks, but he gave away too many points today,” Agassi said of the 27-year-old Niemeyer, the world No. 241.

One of those challenges could come from German eighth-seed Rainer Shuettler who cruised past Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-2, 6-4 and is a likely quarterfinal opponent for Agassi.

In other first round matches, 11th-seeded Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand overcame a second-set fightback to oust Spain’s Alberto Martin 6-0, 7-6.

Argentina’s Jose Acasuso rallied past Fabrice Santoro of France 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 and Juan Ignacio Chela won an all-Argentine battle against Agustin Calleri, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Meanwhile, Paraguay’s Ramon Delgado held on to edge Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic 7-6, 7-6 and France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu proved too strong for Australia’s Scott Draper in his 7-6, 6-4 win.

Morocco’s Younes El Aynaoui also advanced to the second round with a hard-fought 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 triumph over American Mardy Fish as Slovakia’s Karol Beck was also pushed all the way to beat France’s Michael Llodra 6-7, 7-6, 6-1.

Montreal-born Greg Rusedski, who now represents Britain, enjoyed a homecoming of sorts with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Nicolas Lapentti from Ecuador, while American prospect James Blake won 7-6, 6-4 against Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.

Loit Earns Second-Round Clash

With Top Seed Clijsters

In Los Angeles France’s Emilie Loit and Russian youngster Maria Sharapova were among unseeded players to advance early as the $635,000 WTA Tour event got under way here on Monday.

Loit defeated South Korea’s Cho Yoon Jeong 6-3, 6-2 to earn a second-round clash with top-seeded Belgian Kim Clijsters, the world number two who like all the top 16 seeds has a first-round bye.

Sharapova, 16, defeated Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik in similarly short order 6-3, 6-1.Three unseeded French players fell at the first hurdle.

Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn survived two set points in the 12th game of the first set en route to a 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 victory over Mary Pierce. After taking the tiebreaker, Tamarine won three straight games to open the second set before Pierce sought treatment for a sore muscle, which caused pain in her back and side. Pierce then won the next two games to get the set back on serve.

American Tara Snyder advanced past Marion Bartoli when the French teen retired with a strained right elbow. Snyder won the first set 6-3 and was up 4-2 when Bartoli bowed out. Japan’s Saori Obata downed France’s Virginie Razzano 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

The tournament is being held for the first time at the Home Depot Center, the new multi-sports complex in Carson, south of downtown Los Angeles, after 21 years at the Manhattan Beach Country Club.