Johansson looks for more success in Sweden

Oct 6, 2008 - 6:41 PM STOCKHOLM, Sweden (Ticker) -- If Thomas Johansson is going to win another title before the end of his career, he'll likely do so at the Stockholm Open.

The 33-year-old is in the twilight of his career and has not claimed a singles championship since October 2005, but the native Swede has been energized by the partisan crowd here in the past.

Johansson won this hardcourt tournament in 2000 and 2004, was a runner-up in 1998 and has reached the quarterfinals or better in seven of his 12 appearances.

A former top-10 player currently ranked 87th, Johansson will try to improve on his 15-21 record this season when he opens play against seventh-seeded Spaniard Albert Montanes.

The only top-30 player in the field is Argentina's David Nalbandian, who will face American Bobby Reynolds in the first round.

The top seed here as the world No. 7, Nalbandian has endured his share of upsets this season with nine of his 13 losses coming against players ranked outside the top 25.

Among those setbacks was an opening-round defeat to 139th-ranked Frank Dancevic at Wimbledon and a second-round loss in Miami at the hands of then-No. 311 Xavier Malisse.

Mario Ancic of Croatia is the second seed and Finland's Jarkko Nieminen, a finalist here in 2001 and 2006, is the No. 3 seed.

In first-round action Monday, Japan's Kei Nishikori upset eighth-seeded Spaniard Marcel Granollers, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, to set up a meeting with Slovak Dominik Hrbaty, a 6-2, 6-1 winner over Pablo Andujar. Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti also moved through with a 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 7-5 triumph over Ivan Navarro of Spain.

Defending champion Tommy Robredo is not entered in the event, which will award the winner $156,000.