All Brits out in first round

Cowan went down in three sets

Britain's interest in the men's singles at the Japan Open ended on Tuesday as all three Brits lost in the first round.

Left-hander Barry Cowan took Thai 20-year-old Danai Udomchoke to a deciding set but lost 6-2 4-6 6-3, and there were straight-set defeats for both Martin Lee and Jamie Delgado.

Lee, 23, lost 6-4 6-2 to Swedish veteran Magnus Larsson, a 31-year-old who turned pro in 1989.

Another seasoned campaigner accounted for Delgado. The 31-year-old Marc-Kevin Goellner, a London-based German, beat him 6-4 6-4.

Meanwhile, Spain's Alex Calatrava became the first seed to fall as the 13th seed lost 6-3 6-1 to Switzerland's Ivo Heuberger of Switzerland.

Brazil's off-day

The highest men's seed in action was Germany's Lars Burgsmuller who was pushed all the way to earn his win.

The ninth seed survived a second set scare to finally overcome Frenchman Michael Llodra 7-6 (7/3) 2-6 6-2.

Slovakia's Karol Kucera, a former top 10 player now ranked 134th in the world, struggled to a 6-3 4-6 6-1 victory over Brazil's Alexandre Simoni.

It was not a good day for Brazil as Andre Sa was undone by Armenia's Sargis Sargsian 6-2 6-3.

In the women's competition, local favourite and third seed Ai Sugiyama recovered from a slow start to beat Hungarian Zsofia Gubacsi 6-4 6-1.

Monica Seles, who heads the field, had a bye into the second round, and is set to face South Korean qualifier Cho Yoon-Jeong.