Gaudio beats replacement Puerta at Masters

Argentina's Gaston Gaudio beat late replacement Mariano Puerta 6-3, 7-5 in their opening match at the season-ending Masters Cup on Monday.

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Gaudio, the 2004 French Open champion, joined Nikolay Davydenko at the top of the Gold Group after the Russian beat Andre Agassi 6-4, 6-2.

Former world number one Agassi also pulled out with injury after his defeat, joining pre-tournament casualties Andy Roddick, Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt.

Runaway world number one Roger Federer and Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic won their opening Red Group matches on Sunday.