STOCKHOLM, Sweden, 27 October 2004 — Feliciano Lopez and Olivier Rochus won early first-round matches yesterday in straight sets at the €643,750 (US$822,000) Stockholm Open.

Lopez, the Spanish fifth seed, was forced to play out two close sets by American Jeff Morrison and won 7-6, 7-5 on the fast Plexipave court at the Royal Tennis Hall.

Lopez has displayed good form recently, winning the ATP tournament in Vienna earlier this month. Morrison made the semifinals in Metz two weeks ago.

Rochus had an easier time against Swedish qualifier Johan Settergren, winning 6-3, 6-2 in the first center court match of the day.

Five more first-round singles matches were scheduled later in the day, including second-seeded home favorite Joachim Johansson against Chile’s Adrian Garcia.

Andre Agassi, who has not played in the Swedish capital since 1994 when the tournament was held across town in the much bigger Globe Arena, is seeded No. 1. He’ll play Kristof Vliegen of Belgium today.

Robredo Outlasts Qualifier

Wawrinka in Swiss Open

In Basel, Switzerland, fifth-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain came close to following Roger Federer out of the €989,750 (US$1.25 million) Swiss Indoors tennis tournament yesterday, needing three sets to oust Swiss qualifier Stanislas Wawrinka in the opening round.

In their first meeting, Robredo barely edged ahead of Wawrinka in the opening set, lost the second and went a break down in the third, before finally prevailing 7-6, 5-7, 6-4.

Earlier in the day, the Basel curse continued for home hero Roger Federer, who was forced to pull out of the tournament with a thigh injury.

The world No. 1 injured his left thigh during a warm up Tuesday morning. The first diagnosis was a torn upper left thigh muscle, tournament spokesman Juerg Vogel said.

Lucky loser Bohdan Ulihrach will take Federer’s place and was slated to play Luis Horna of Peru in the first round.

Federer, a former ball-boy at this event, had been seeking his first tournament title in seven appearances here in his home city.

In 2002, Federer lost in the semifinals to David Nalbandian of Argentina. Last year he fared worse, going out in the second round to Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic. The Swiss was a heavy favorite, after winning three Grand Slam titles this season. It was uncertain how long Federer would be sidelined.

Czech Jiri Novak opened the day by beating Florian Mayer of Germany 6-2, 6-3.

Tennis Federation Official to Head Chilean Olympic Committee

In Santiago, Chile, Chilean Tennis Federation director Neven Ilic was elected president of the county’s Olympic committee, replacing Fernando Eitel who was forced to resign amid corruption accusations.

In the election that ended near midnight Monday, Ilic, a wealthy construction businessman, defeated gymnastics federation president Juan Latorre 27-25 to win a four-year term.

Eitel was forced to resign in September, after admitting he had falsified some bills in a expense account.