Big-serving Wayne Arthurs tuned up for Wimbledon with a 6-3,

[MosJan]

Big-serving Wayne Arthurs tuned up for Wimbledon with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory over Armenia's Sargis Sargsian on Monday at the $400,000 Samsung Open.

 

Two seeded players lost on the first day -- No. 4 David Prinosil of Germany and No. 6 Alberto Martin of Spain -- leaving only five seeds after an ill Fabrice Santoro withdrew.

 

The Frenchman, who beat Patrick Rafter in the Gerry Weber Open final last week, was to have been seeded fifth.

 

Prinosil lost 6-3, 6-1 to Byron Black of Zimbabwe, and Martin lost 6-0, 6-4 to Michel Kratochvil of Switzerland.

 

Arthurs, an Aussie who could be a threat at Wimbledon, lost to Tim Henman in three tiebreakers in the third round of the Queen's Club championship last week. Sargsian reached the semifinals of this tournament in 1998.

 

In the third set, Sargsian saved one match point on his serve at 6-5 but double faulted on the second.

 

Arthurs will next face eighth-seeded Jonas Bjorkman, who beat Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic 7-5, 7-5.

 

"I'm happy with win but I'm not pleased with my performance," Bjorkman said. "I think I was a little but flat out there today. I know what I have to do against Wayne."

 

In another first-round match, Andrei Stoliarov of Russia beat Juan Balcells of Spain 6-1, 6-1.

 

Santoro's place in the draw will be taken by Martin Lee. He will face British compatriot Lee Childs on Tuesday.

 

Top-seeded Jan-Michael Gambill has a tough opening match Tuesday against wild card Greg Rusedski. Rusedski is struggling to adapt his powerful serve to grass, which should be his ideal surface.

 

Also in the field are 18-year-old American Andy Roddick, Wayne Ferreira and Thomas Johansson