French Open champ Gaudio upset at Qatar
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-05 09:32

French Open champion Gaston Gaudio was upset by top-ranked junior Gael Monfils of France 6-4, 7-6 (4) Tuesday in the Qatar Open's first round.

Argentina's Gaston Gaudio reacts during his match against France's Gael Monfils in their Qatar Open Tennis Championship held at Khalif Tennis Complex in Doha, on Tuesday, Jan. 4 2005. Gael Monfils beat Gaudio 6-4, 7-6 [AP]

Gaudio finished last year ranked in the top 10 for the first time, but his poor record on hard courts was exploited by the 18-year-old Monfils, who won three of the four junior majors in 2004 (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon).

Also losing Tuesday: fourth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny and No. 5 Andrei Pavel.

Monfils made his ATP debut in October at Metz, France, reaching the quarterfinals.

"This is certainly the best win of my career," Monfils said. "In fact, this is my first-ever victory over a top-10 player in the world. I am obviously very happy."

Playing chiefly from the baseline, Monfils broke Gaudio in the fifth and seventh games of the first set. In the second, both players held serve to a tiebreaker, where Monfils rallied twice and won the last four points.

Another teen, Spanish Davis Cup hero Rafael Nadal, beat Youzhny 6-3, 7-6 (4), and Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland knocked out Pavel 7-5, 6-7 (8), 6-4.

In other action, third-seeded Sebastien Grosjean beat Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 7-6 (3), 6-2, 2000 Qatar Open champion Fabrice Santoro defeated 2002 Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-4, 6-2, eighth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko got past Ivo Karlovic 7-6 (3), 6-3, and Karol Beck downed Igor Andreev 6-3, 6-4.

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