Ferrero missed two months this year with wrist and knee injuries but had an impressive win last week in Stuttgart, where he clinched his first title in 13 months. Stebe, a 20-year-old left-hander, reached the quarterfinals there.

Also, German wild card Tobias Kamke upset seventh-seeded Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 6-1, 6-4.

German Davis Cup player Philipp Petzschner was upset by qualifier Marsel Ilhan of Turkey 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (5). He didn't want to talk about his play after the match, instead turning to soccer.

Asked to comment on Ilhan's unexpected victory, Petzschner replied, "I hope that HSV reaches the Europa League this season."

When asked to describe how he managed to double-fault on match point, Petzschner again mentioned the Hamburger SV Bundesliga soccer club, saying it had acquired good new players. Petzschner has criticized for a lackluster performance in the Davis Cup loss to France and for three straight first-round losses.

Jarkko Nieminen of Finland beat 10th-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, and fifth-seeded Gilles Simon of France cruised past Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 6-2, 6-1.
          
In Atlanta, at 31 and a longtime member of the ATP world tour, James Blake knew what to expect coming back from a long rain delay.

"I think generally it favors the person who's down because they've got a chance to stop the momentum and get back out there with a new attitude where they feel like they're the underdog," he said. "You've got a little bit of a nothing-to-lose attitude and you can play your best tennis."

Blake rallied to win a second-set tiebreaker and overcame a 1-hour, 18-minute rain delay Monday night for a 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-2 victory over Ernests Gulbis of Latvia in the first round of the Atlanta Tennis Championships.

Blake will face No. 3 seed John Isner, his friend and doubles partner, in the second round.

No. 8 seed Somdev Devvarman of India held off Ryan Sweeting 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to earn a second-round match against Japan's Tatsuma Ito, a 7-6 (6), 6-4 winner over Michael Berrer of Germany.

Gilles Muller of Luxembourg beat No. 7 seed Alex Bogomolov Jr., 6-3, 7-6 (6).

Michael Russell advanced to a second-round meeting with No. 2 seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa with a straight-set win over Donald Young.

Isner, the runner-up to defending champion and top-seeded Mardy Fish last year in Atlanta, isn't exactly looking forward to facing Blake.

On Tuesday, No. 5 seed Grigor Dimitrov, a former junior No. 1, will face qualifier Rajeev Ram. Sixth-seeded Igor Kunitsyn of Russia plays qualifier Marinko Matosevic of Australia

Isner, who starred at the University of Georgia and is ranked 35th in the world, is looking forward to playing the crowd favorite for the second straight year even though the event has moved seven miles south from the swank Atlanta Athletic Club.

For Blake, the key to beating Gulbis timing his opponent's serve.

Blake had to manage an emotional letdown even though the stadium court of the Racquet Club of the South had nearly cleared out after the rain delay.

In Baku, Azerbaijan, third-seeded Elena Vesnina has advanced to the second round of the Baku Cup, beating fellow Russian Yana Buchina 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 on Tuesday.

Down 2-0 in the third set, Vesnina called a medical timeout and received treatment for her right shoulder.

When play resumed, Vesnina immediately recovered the break, held two match points on her opponent's serve at 5-4 and closed out the match on her third match point with a service return.

Vesnina will face France's Aravane Rezai in the second round of the hardcourt tournament. Rezai routed 15-year-old Kamilla Farhad of Azerbaijan 6-0, 6-2.

Fifth-seeded Monica Niculescu of Romania advanced when Greece's Eirini Georgatou retired because of a left ankle injury. Georgatou, down 5-1 when she quit, was taken to a hospital for examination.

Georgia's Anna Tatishvili upset eighth-seeded Russian Evgeniya Rodina 6-4, 6-2, seventh-seeded Ksenia Pervak of Russia outlasted Thailand's Noppawan Lertcheewakarn 3-6, 6-1, 7-5, and Russia's Elena Bovina needed six match points and 2 hours, 38 minutes to edge Kazakh Zarina Diyas 6-0, 3-6, 7-5.