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Gonzalez defeated on return to action

Fernando Gonzalez has not played since the French Open in May © Getty Images

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Fernando Gonzalez's return to action lasted a little over an hour when he was dismissed in straight sets by Radek Stepanek at the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament at New Haven.

Gonzalez was handed a wildcard for the event at the Connecticut Tennis Center after recovering from a knee injury which sidelined him for three months, having not played since the French Open in May.

The third seed will have just one match under his belt when he heads to Flushing Meadows next week for the US Open, and was made to pay for his lack of match practice at New Haven as he fell 6-2 6-4.

It was Gonzalez's second serve that let him down, and his rustiness was evident when he failed to take his chances - converting just one of five break point opportunities.

Stepanek, who was only granted a place in the draw when Mardy Fish withdrew following his final appearance in Cincinnati, will meet Victor Hanescu in the third round after the Romanian beat Germany's Daniel Brands 6-3 6-4.

Second seed Thomaz Bellucci also met an early demise, the Brazilian fading badly in a 6-4 6-7 6-0 defeat to Lukas Lacko. There were better fortunes though for the tournament's top seed Marcos Baghdatis, who beat Igor Andreev in straight sets.

Fifth seed Andrey Golubev survived a scare against world No. 195 Maximo Gonzalez. Golubev looked to be on course for a comfortable victory after taking the first set, but a wobble in the second allowed the Argentine to claw his way back into the contest. Despite his deteriorating serve, the Kazakhstan No. 1 held his nerve to record a 6-3 2-6 6-2 victory.

He will now meet Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili, who was handed an easy route into the third round after 11th seed Xavier Malisse retired injured in the first set.

Two American hopefuls made disappointing first round exits at the hands of seeded players as Tommy Robredo knocked out in-form Taylor Dent and Donald Young fell to Juan Ignacio Chela.

There were also wins for Florian Mayer, Denis Istomin, Illya Marchenko, Thiemo de Bakker and Evgeny Korolev.

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