Djokovic, Youzhny advance; Llodra, Ljubicic lose

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -Top-seeded Novak Djokovic made a winning return to the tour when he advanced through the ABN Amro first round because Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine retired with a leg injury on Tuesday.

Djokovic was leading 6-2, 4-1 at the time.

The Serb was making his first tour appearance since losing in the Australian Open quarterfinals.

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He'll next face Switzerland's Marco Chiudinelli, who knocked out 2008 Rotterdam champion Michael Llodra of France 6-1, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6) in 2 hours, 37 minutes. Llodra fought back from 6-1 down in the final-set tiebreaker to level at 6-6 before Chiudinelli prevailed.

Another former champ, 2007 winner Mikhail Youzhny, beat Kazakh qualifier Andrey Golubev 1-6, 7-6 (0), 7-6 (5) in 2:19 without a single break. Golubev broke the sixth seed twice, both times in the first set, then Youzhny had to edge him in successive tiebreakers.

Seventh-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, a two-time Rotterdam finalist, was ousted by Julien Benneteau of France 6-3, 6-3.

Also, Turkish qualifier Marsel Ilhan beat Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-1, 6-4, and Dutch wild card Thiemo de Bakker defeated Czech lucky loser Jan Hajek 7-6 (5), 6-3.

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