Only five matches completed at rainy, windy Delray Beach
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. -- Eighth-seeded Mardy Fish sat out a six-hour rain delay before completing his win over Marco Crugnola of Italy 6-1, 7-5 on Tuesday.
Fish capably took advantage of four of seven break points in the match, winning all but the sixth game in the first set, and from 5-4 in the second set won the final three games.
"It's not fun. But I've played in a lot of windy conditions, practiced in a lot of windy conditions growing up around here. I've seen even worse than this, but it's really windy," he said.
Rain interrupted play at the International Tennis Championships with only five of the 11 matches on the schedule being completed.
Top seed James Blake made a brief foray to the court but was rained out after winning his serve in the fifth game of the first set for a 3-2 lead over fellow American Robert Kendrick.
Earlier in the day, 129th-ranked Gilles Muller won his first ATP-level match of the year in a tough 7-5, 7-6 (4) win over wild-card recipient Jessie Levine, who lives in nearby Boca Raton.
Muller, 24, has had some success on the tour. He has posted some significant upsets including a win over Andre Agassi en route to the Washington final in 2004.
He also had a first-round win over Andy Roddick in three tiebreak sets at the 2005 U.S. Open. Those results have put a lot of pressure on Muller, who has been training in South Florida during the past six months.
"People would say, 'How come you can beat Roddick and you can beat Agassi?' So I had a feeling I could only lose. I was thinking about that and losing my place in the rankings and losing my confidence," he said.
Igor Kunitsyn, the 117th-ranked Russian, also moved into the second round after a 6-3, 7-6 (1) win over Benjamin Becker of Germany.
Max Mirnyi, who landed a spot in the main draw when Romanian Victor Hanescu withdrew sick, won a 7-6 (5), 6-2 match over Luka Gregorc of Slovenia.
Michael Russell handled fellow American Alex Bogomolov Jr. 6-1, 6-0 in 49 minutes before rain disrupted play.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
