Isner, Almagro win Rome openers

May 14, 2012 - 9:06 PM Rome, Italy (Sports Network) - Ninth-seeded American John Isner and Spanish clay-court specialist Nicolas Almagro notched first-round wins Monday at the Italian Open -- the fifth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of the year.

The 6-foot-9 Isner fell behind before fighting back for a 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 victory at this French Open tune-up. The big-serving Isner popped 10 aces against the recent Munich titlist Kohlschreiber.

Isner's second-round opponent will be recent Belgrade winner Andreas Seppi of Italy.

A 12th-seeded Almagro fought his way past tough Croat Marin Cilic 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 on the red clay at the beautiful Foro Italico.

Almagro has reached a pair of clay-court finals this year, including a title in Sao Paulo.

Thirteenth-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils also advanced, with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Russian Alex Bogomolov Jr. Monfils will face former world No. 1 and 2001 Rome winner Juan Carlos Ferrero on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Swiss slugger Stanislas Wawrinka got past Dutch qualifier Robin Haase 6-1, 4-6, 7-5, Spaniard Fernando Verdasco topped Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-0, retired, and oft-injured Argentine star David Nalbandian doused Spanish qualifier Albert Ramos 6-3, 6-4. Wawrinka was a finalist here in 2008, while Nalbandian was the runner-up back in 2004.

Nalbandian will battle fourth-seeded Andy Murray on Tuesday.

Italian wild card Fabio Fognini drove out former Aussie Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis, of Cyprus, 6-2, 6-2, while additional Day-2 wins came for Czech veteran Radek Stepanek, promising Aussie Bernard Tomic and Argentine Carlos Berlocq, who is rewarded with a second-round match against last week's Madrid Masters titlist Roger Federer, the 2003 and 2006 Rome runner-up.

Two-time Rome champion Novak Djokovic dethroned then-titlist Rafael Nadal in last year's Rome finale. Nadal is a five-time Rome champ. Djokovic and Nadal have combined to win the last seven Italian Open titles.

Djokovic will open his week against the 19-year-old Tomic on Tuesday.

The last Italian to title here was Adriano Panatta back in 1976.

The 2012 Rome champion will earn $595,000.