THOMAS MUSTER made a winning start to the defence of his Italian Open title in Rome yesterday, but there was no joy for seeds Wayne Ferreira and Mark Philippoussis.
Muster notched up his 500th claycourt victory, as he erased the memory of an early exit in Monte Carlo, sweeping to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Italian wildcard entrant Marzio Martelli.
But ninth seeded Ferreira missed five match points to allow Magnus Larsson to come through and win 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/5), while Morocco's Karim Alami beat Philippoussis 6-2, 6-0.
Muster, who has won 40 of his 44 career titles on clay, said: "I had some health problems over the last couple of weeks. But they're all solved now and I'm looking forward to playing well again. I'm feeling physically better every day I step on court."
Britain's Greg Rusedski was another casualty, after losing two tie breaks to Spain's Albert Portas. Muster was joined in the second round by the man he defeated in last year's final, Richard Krajicek. The Dutchman shrugged off a cold to beat another Italian wild card entrant, Diego Nargiso, 7-5, 6-3.
