Gambill makes Milan exit

Gambill was undone by Schalken's serve

Click here for Tuesday's results from Milan

Fourth seed Jan-Michael Gambill crashed out of the Milan Indoor tournament at the first round stage on Tuesday.

The American lost 7-5 3-6 6-3 to Dutchman Sjeng Schalken - becoming the first seeded player to be ousted from the ATP competition.

Gambill, a 24-year-old from Washington, surrendered following a battle of serves and exhausting exchanges from the baseline which lasted two hours and 10 minutes.

Schalken wasted a break advantage on 3-2 to allow Gambill's second-set comeback.

But the Dutch player made a decisive break in the second game of the third set and squandered six match points in the eighth game before serving to victory.

Federer won through his first round match

Earlier, defending champion and number two seed Roger Federer beat unseeded Austrian Stefan Koubek - an Australian Open quarter-finalist - 7-6 (2), 6-3.

Federer took some risks in the first set and allowed Koubek to rally from one break down to 6-6.

But the Swiss swept throught the tiebreak and then took the second set without too much trouble to complete the match in an hour.

In other first-round action, Brazilian Andre Sa defeated Italian qualifier Cristiano Caratti 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, and Italy's Stefano Galvani, a wild-card entry, downed French qualifier Nicolas Thomann 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Top-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain and Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, the number three seed, were both due to play on Wednesday - Ferrero against Frenchman Julien Boutter and Ivanisevic against Czech Michal Tabara.

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Milan Indoor - first-round results

Andre Sa (Bra) beat Cristiano Caratti (Ita) 3-6 6-3 6-4
Roger Federer (Swi) - 2 bt Stefan Koubek (Aut) 7-6 (2) 6-3
Sjeng Schalke (Net) bt Jan-Michael Gambill USA - 4 7-5 3-6 6-3
Stefano Galvani (Ita) bt Nicolas Thomann (Fra) 3-6 6-4 6-2
Davide Sanguinetti (Ita) beat Christian Vinck (Ger) 7-5 3-6 7-5
Michel Kratochvil (Swi) beat Andrea Guadenzi (Ita) 6-2 6-2

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