Fish progresses in LA

Sixth seed Mardy Fish progressed to the second round of the Countryside Classic with a straight-sets victory over Colombian Alejandro Falla on Monday.

Fish was the only seed in action and claimed a comfortable 6-2 6-2 triumph for his first victory since June.

The 26-year-old American broke his opponent four times, while saving break point on three occasions, and will now meet the winner of the contest between American Vince Spadea and Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean, who meet on Tuesday.

German Denis Gremelmayr claimed a 6-4 6-2 win over Italian Fabio Fognini to open the tournament.

Gremelmayr converted five of his six break-point chances to set up a second-round meeting with fourth seed Feliciano Lopez, who received a first-round bye.

Frenchmen Florent Serra and Marc Gicquel also progressed in straight sets, defeating Kazakhstan qualifier Andrey Golubev 6-4 6-1 and American wildcard Zack Fleishman 6-3 6-0, respectively.

World number six Andy Roddick is the top seed and also received a bye, as did Fernando Verdasco of Spain and Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina, the second and third seeds, respectively.

Defending champion Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic is not participating in the tournament, and last year's runner-up, James Blake of the United States, also pulled out.

ATP Countrywide Classic, Los Angeles Results Day 1
Denis Gremelmayr (Germany) def. Fabio Fognini (Italy) 6-4 6-2
Florent Serra (France) def. Andrey Golubev (Kazakhstan) 6-4 6-1
6-Mardy Fish (USA) def. Alejandro Falla (Columbia) 6-2 6-2
Marc Gicquel (France) def. Zack Fleishman (USA) 6-3 6-0