Defending champion Olivier Rochus lost 6-2, 6-4 to eighth-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria in the first round of the BMW Open on Monday. “I didn’t have a good day,” Rochus said after his quick defeat. The Belgian struggled with Melzer’s serve, with the Austrian firing seven aces and winning 81 percent of his first-serve points.

Five-time Fed Cup champion Spain will host the Czech Republic in the World Group playoffs in July. The International Tennis Federation’s playoff draw Wednesday also gave 2001 champion Belgium a home matchup against China. The other matches include Austria against Israel and Japan against Germany. Spain, Belgium, China and Japan all lost 5-0 in the first round earlier this month.

Third-seeded Julien Benneteau needed a pair of tiebreakers and three sets against Frederico Gil on Tuesday to advance to the second round of the clay court Grand Prix Hassan II. Benneteau of France defeated Gil 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (5), and top seeds Dominik Hrbaty and Jose Acasuso won their first-round matches in straight sets.

The total purse at Wimbledon will be 8.7 percent more than last year, with the male and female champion each taking home $1.4 million. The only Grand Slam tournament on grass will offer total prize money of $22,572,011. The increase reflects female and male competitors getting equal pay from the first round to the final for the first time since it began paying players in 1968.

Second-seeded Martina Muller of Germany rallied to beat Maria Elena Camerin of Italy 6-7 (7), 6-3, 7-5 Monday in a first-round match at the Budapest Grand Prix. The 34th-ranked Muller struggled against Camerin on the red clay of the Romai Tennis Academy. The German led 5-3 in the first set before Camerin took it to a tiebreaker.

Andrei Pavel of Romania defeated Radek Stepanek 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 Monday on the opening day of the Open Seat Gordo tournament. Pavel twice broke the Czech after losing the first set and saved three break points in the final set to advance to the second round. Other first-round winners included American Vincent Spadea, who beat Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, and Andreas Seppi of Italy, who…

Russia, France, Italy and the United States each took 2-0 leads Saturday in the first round of the Fed Cup. Ninth-ranked Nadia Petrova and No. 5 Svetlana Kuznetsova, the two highest-ranked players competing this weekend in World Group I, got singles wins for Russia in the best-of-five series against Spain.

Kim Clijsters will not play at the U.S. Open, making Wimbledon the last Grand Slam tournament of her career. The fourth-ranked Belgian will also play doubles at Wimbledon, which starts June 25, in case of an early exit from the singles. “That way, I would be able to stay a bit longer at my last Grand Slam tournament,” Clijsters said on her Web site.

Even with the Williams sisters back on the team, this weekend’s U.S. Fed Cup matchup is a letdown. The first-round pairing with Belgium shaped up as a showcase for women’s tennis — until No. 1-ranked Justine Henin and No. 4 Kim Clijsters declined to take part. Serena Williams against Henin before a flag-waving crowd chanting “U-S-A!” would have been something to see.

The two highest-ranked players in the first round of the Fed Cup will play in the opening singles matches for Russia on Saturday. Ninth-ranked Nadia Petrova and fifth-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova were picked Friday to lead a deep Russian team against Spain on clay at the Luzhniki Indoor arena. Petrova will open against Anabel Medina Garrigues and Kuznetsova, a former U.S.

Serena Williams said the groin injury that forced her to retire from a match last week has healed and she’ll be able to play for the U.S. Fed Cup team this weekend against Belgium. This will be Williams’ first Fed Cup match 2003. The U.S. team, which also includes Venus Williams for the first time since 2005, will be heavily favored against a Belgian team missing its top two players.

Andy Murray pulled out of the Monte Carlo Masters on Tuesday after injuring his back during a doubles match. Murray was playing doubles with brother Jamie on Monday when he felt spasms. “It’s better today than it was yesterday, but I still find it hard to walk — it’s a little bit frustrating,” Murray said.

Roger Federer is making another push to save the Monte Carlo Masters from being downgraded. The top-ranked Swiss said Monday that the ATP, which is planning to restructure its 2009 calendar, is moving too fast. “Many people are worried, and because they are worried, I think we should just wait for a minute here,” Federer said.

The Tennis Channel will be carried by satellite provider DirecTV beginning this summer under a multiyear distribution agreement that was to be announced Monday. The deal will nearly double the number of households that get The Tennis Channel, which went on the air in 2003 and is currently in about 10 million U.S.

Steffi Graf required three stitches Sunday after husband Andre Agassi inadvertently hit her in the face with his racket during a fundraiser that followed the final of the U.S. Clay Court Championships. Graf and Agassi were holding hands — her left to his right — while rallying with a couple of youngsters when Agassi’s follow-through struck his wife in the face.