KITZBUEHEL, Austria (AP) -Top-seeded Andreas Seppi withdrew from the Austrian Open on Tuesday shortly before the start of his first-round match against Nicolas Devilder of France
The 24-year old Italian didn't give an immediate explanation, but said tournament director Jurgen Pfauth would release a statement later Tuesday.
Seppi, ranked 34th, had headlined the tournament after the top three seeded players - Paul-Henri Mathieu, defending champion Juan Monaco and Juan Carlos Ferrero - all withdrew injured last week.
Seppi was replaced in the draw by Matthias Bachinger of Germany, who now plays Devilder in the opening round.
Juan Martin del Potro beat Josselin Ouanna of France 6-3, 6-3. The seventh-seeded Argentine, who won last week's Mercedes Cup for his first ATP title, was in control of the match throughout.
Victor Hanescu also advanced, rallying from a 5-3 deficit in the third set to beat Pablo Andujar of Spain 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (2).
The 26-year-old Romanian, who won his first ATP event at the Swiss Open last Sunday, trailed 2-0 behind in the tiebreaker, but won seven straight points to close out the match.
No. 8 Olivier Rochus became the first seeded player to be eliminated after Ivo Minar of the Czech Republic rallied to beat the Belgian 3-6, 6-4, 6-0.
No. 4 Potito Starace, No. 5 Eduardo Schwank and No. 6 Jurgen Melzer all had straight-sets victories.
Also, Daniel Brands of Germany defeated Eric Prodon of France 6-3, 6-4; Brian Dabul of Argentina beat Stephane Bohli of Switzerland 6-1, 6-1; Daniel Koellerer of Austria defeated Philipp Oswald 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4); and Sergio Roitman of Argentina beat Martin Fischer of Austria 6-4, 6-2.
