Michel Kratochvil suffered a disappointing defeat in the first round of the Swiss Open less than a week after taking Tim Henman to five sets at Wimbledon.

Playing in front of his home crowd in Gstaad, the Swiss went down 6-2 6-4 to Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.

"This loss was a big disappointment - it was worse than Wimbledon. At least there my game was going up. Today, I never got started."

Youzhny is the youngest player in the draw and arrived in Switzerland after an impressive showing at Wimbledon, where he lost in the fourth round to Lleyton Hewitt.

"This is so different from the grass last week," said Youzhny. "There, it was just a few shots per point. Here, you need at least ten or 20."

Juan Ignacio Chela was the first seed to fall when he crashed in three sets to Croatian qualifier Ivan Ljubicic.

The fifth seed lost 7-6 3-6 6-4, and has now failed to beat Ljubicic in all three of their meetings.

There is a strong Spanish contingent in Gstaad and they began well, with Felix Mantilla beating Romanian Adrian Voinea 6-3 6-4 and David Sanchez thrashing Frenchman Anthony Dupuis 6-2 6-1.

Two-time champion Alex Corretja then followed up with a convincing 6-1 6-4 win over Brazil's Fernando Meligeni.

Monday's results from the Swiss Open in Gstaad:

Alex Corretja (8) (Spa) bt Fernando Meligeni (Bra) 6-1 6-4
Karol Kucera (Slo) bt Ivo Heuberger (Swi) 4-6 6-2 7-5
Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) bt Juan Ignacio Chela (5) (Arg) 7-6 (3) 3-6 6-4
Michail Juschni (Rus) bt Michel Kratochvil (Swi) 6-2 6-4
Felix Mantilla (Spa) bt Adrian Voinea (Rom) 6-3 6-4
David Sanchez (Spa) bt Anthony Dupuis (Fra) 6-2 6-1

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