Haas crashes out in Acapulco

Haas struggled on his first clay-court outing in 2002

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Top seed Tommy Haas crashed out of the second round of the Mexican Open in Acapulco after blowing two match points against Fernando Vicente.

The German had been serving 5-4 up in the final set but had his serve broken.

And, despite holding two match points in the subsequent tiebreak, he failed to see off Vicente who walked off court the 7-6 3-6 7-6 victor.

The tournament was Haas' first outing on clay since May last year at the French Open.

And he said after his defeat he had lots of work to do to achieve any success at the second Grand Slam of the season later this year.

"It (the Mexican Open) wasn't initially on my calendar," said Haas.

"And I would need to play more on clay in the lead-up to have a chance of winning (the French Open)."

Moya has had a timely return to form

A jubilant Vicente said he was surprised to have notched up his first ATP win over Haas.

The Spaniard added: "When you're down match point you have to bring everything together and I was pleased to survive two tough moments."

Vicente will now meet his best friend, Carlos Moya, in the next round of the $725,000 tournament.

Moya moved into the quarter-finals with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Jose Acasuso.

The former world number one had won just once coming into the Mexican Open but on Wednesday always looked on course for a comfortable transition into the next round.

He said afterwards: "I arrived early to acclimatise to the heat and conditions and it has helped me."

Moya and Vicente were joined in the next round by compatriot David Sanchez after he defeated Albert Portas 6-2 7-5. He will now meet Fernando Meligeni.

Wednesday saw another victory for one of the form players on clay this season - Nicolas Massu.

The Chilean knocked out Italy's Andrea Gaudenzi 6-3 7-6 just days after winning his first ATP Tour title in the AT&T Cup in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Massu, now 15th in the ATP Champions Race, talked up his chances of another title.

He said: "I'm playing with a lot of confidence... I've played 10 matches in the past two weeks and I expect to continue my good form this week."

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Wednesday's first-round results:

Nicolas Massu (Chi) bt Andrea Gaudenzi (Ita) 6-3 7-6

Second-round results:

Fernando Vicente (Spa) bt Tommy Haas (Ger) 7-6 3-6 7-6
Carlos Moya (Spa) bt Jose Acasuso (Arg) 6-4 6-4
David Sanchez (Spa) bt Albert Portas (Spa) 6-2 7-5
Fernando Meligeni (Bra) bt Nicolas Coutelot (Fra) 3-6 6-4 6-3
Mariano Zabaleta (Arg) bt Magnus Norman (Swe) 7-5 6-4
Juan Ignacio Chela (Arg) bt Nicolas Massu (Chile) 2-6 7-6 (12-10) 6-2
Francisco Clavet (Spa) bt Jacobo Diaz (Spa) 4-0 retired
Alberto Montanes (Spa) bt Felix Mantilla (Spa) 6-4 6-4

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