Clement and Golovin advance to New Haven second round

CINCINNATI, Aug 21 (Reuters) Arnaud Clement and Tatiana Golovin made it a good day for France at the New Haven Open by reaching the second round of the traditional US Open warm-up event.

Former Australian Open runner-up Clement beat compatriot Florent Serra 6-4 6-1 and Golovin squeezed past Australian Alicia Molik 4-6 7-6 6-3 yesterday.

Clement, who won the Legg-Mason Classic in Washington this month, broke Serra five times on his way to victory, setting up an intriguing clash with second seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia.

Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka outfought Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 6-3 6-7 6-4 and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut ousted Italian Daniele Bracciali 7-5 7-6.

There was better luck for another Italian, though, Andreas Seppi beating Bjorn Phau of Germany 6-1 6-1.

In the women's event, Golovin had to dig deep to get past Molik, who is still making her way back after several months out through illness.

The Australian took the first set and was within a few points of winning the match in the second but Golovin snatched the tiebreak 7-3 before easing through the decider.

Defending men's champion James Blake and Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo, the top seeds, will begin their bids for the title tomorrow.

REUTERS PDS DS1230