GSTAAD, Switzerland, 8 July 2004 — Defending champion Jiri Novak recovered from a shaky start to beat Spaniard Albert Montanes 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the second round of the Swiss Open yesterday.

The fourth-seeded Czech, twice a winner in Gstaad, was outplayed by claycourt specialist Montanes in the opening set before he took control to complete his 12th straight victory in the event.

Novak, who beat Wimbledon champion Roger Federer in last year’s final, won the title for the first time in 2001.

Novak will play Potito Starace in the quarterfinals after the unseeded Italian beat Romanian Victor Hanescu 3-6, 7-6, 7-6.

Russian Igor Andreev defeated 1999 tournament winner and eighth seed Albert Costa of Spain 6-2, 6-4 to book his place in the last eight.

Costa, the 2002 French Open champion, had no answer for Andreev’s accurate serving and powerful ground strokes.

The Russian will meet Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, for a place in the semifinals, after the Spaniard beat Austrian Stefan Koubek 6-3, 6-4.

Blake, Rusedski Advance at Newport Tennis

James Blake posted a 7-6 (9-7), 6-3 victory over Belgian Dick Norman on Tuesday at the Hall of Fame Championships, his first match in more than two months due to a neck injury.

“I felt pretty good out there,” Blake said. “I think there was a little bit of rustiness out there in the beginning, but I’m just happy to be back on the courts.”

A 24-year-old American, Blake hurt his neck when he slipped into the net during practice at the Italia Masters in Rome. He had lost four straight matches before Tuesday.

Blake is making his sixth straight appearance in Newport, having lost the 2002 final to Taylor Dent.

Top seed Vincent Spadea opened the grasscourt event with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over fellow American Jeff Salzenstein.

Spadea is seeking his second title of the year, having won a hardcourt event in Phoenix.

“I was just hanging in there and playing every game the same,” Spadea said after winning the last four games of the match. “He just made a few loose errors.” Six other seeds were in action Tuesday, including No. 3 Jurgen Melzer of Austria, who routed Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-4. Melzer lost last year’s Newport final to Robby Ginepri.

Hard-serving Englishman Greg Rusedski bounced fourth seed Gregory Carraz of France, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.

Rusedski is the only former champion in the field. He claimed his first of 13 ATP Tour titles here in 1993. Fifth-seeded Frenchman Cyril Saulnier moved on with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 triumph over American wild card Justin Gimelstob.

Jeff Morrison won a battle of Americans, bouncing sixth seed Jan-Michael Gambill, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3.

Other seeds to advance were No. 7 Alexander Popp of Germany and No. 8 Antony Dupuis of France. Unseeded victors were Nicolas Mahut of France, American Alex Bogomolov Jr. and Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark.

Gonzalez and Zabaleta Into Swedish Open Quarters

In Bastad, Sweden, Chilean sixth seed Fernando Gonzalez beat Finn Jarkko Nieminen 7-6, 6-1 at the Swedish Open yesterday to earn a place in the quarterfinals.

Defending champion and eighth seed Mariano Zabaleta is also through after defeating Georgian Irakli Labadze 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in an uneven match where Labadze was unable to sustain his sublime form of the second set in the decider.

Nieminen looked set to clinch the first set when serving at 6-5 but Gonzalez broke back and proved the stronger player in the tiebreak, which he won 7-3.

In the second set the hard-hitting Chilean stepped up a gear and outclassed Nieminen 6-1 in just 22 minutes. He will now face unseeded Argentine Juan Monaco.

Wild card Monaco, who beat third seed Nicolas Massu in the opening round, ousted Belgian Kristof Vliegen 5-7, 6-4, 6-1.

Argentine Zabaleta will next meet Spaniard Alberto Martin, who beat Italian Filippo Volandri 5-7, 6-1, 6-4.