LOS ANGELES — Australian wild card Daria Gavrilova and Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko advanced to the second round of the Mexican Open in Acapulco on Monday, after eliminating unseeded Americans Madison Brengle and Lauren Davis, respectively. Gavrilova, the third seed, rallied to beat Brengle in three sets, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, in two hours and 21 minutes. Gavrilova won despite making 11 double faults compared to just three for Brengle. Gavrilova won 66 percent of her first serve points but had her serve broken five times. The defending champion and seventh seed Tsurenko defeated Davis 6-4, 6-1 in 77 minutes. On the men's side of the joint WTA and ATP tournament, David Ferrer of Spain breezed past Russia's Andrey Rublev 6-4, 6-3 in a night match to reach the second round. The unseeded Ferrer won 78 percent of his first-serve points and broke Rublev's serve four times in the 83 minute contest. Ferrer next faces the winner of a match between sixth seeded Juan Martin Del Potro and Mischa Zverev of Germany. In other first round matches, Ryan Harrison edged fellow American John Isner 6-3, 7-6 (7/5). Rafael Nadal, meanwhile, said he will not be thinking about reclaiming his world No. 1 ranking when he makes his return from injury at the Mexico Open on Tuesday. The 31-year-old Spanish star will play his first match since limping out of the quarterfinals at the Australian Open when he faces Feliciano Lopez. Following his exit in Melbourne last month, Nadal has ceded his No. 1 ranking to Roger Federer, who became the oldest player to claim top spot on Feb. 19. While a victory this week would not be good enough to overhaul Federer, it would leave Nadal primed to replace the Swiss star at Indian Wells or Miami next month. Nadal however insists he is not motivated by a desire to reclaim the position from his long-time rival. I play this tournament because I like it and, not because I'm trying to be No. 1 in the world, Nadal said. At this point in my career, I'm looking to be happy, and play in the proper weeks, whether No. 1 or No. 5 in the rankings. Nishioka beaten by Paire in Dubai Japan's Yoshihito Nishioka said his comeback from knee surgery will take time, after letting a one-set lead slip in a first-round loss to Benoit Paire at the Dubai Championships on Monday. The 22-year-old, playing in only his second ATP tournament since suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury in Miami last March, fell to a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 defeat. The world No. 179, with a protected ranking of 66, admitted that while he fought hard, his level is not high enough to fully compete on a regular basis. Nishioka said his immediate goal is to return to his career-best ranking of 58th, after his first ATP Tour match since retiring injured in the first set of his second-round tie against Jack Sock at the Australian Open. Nishikoka won a tight first set but eventually bowed to Frenchman Paire after losing the first five games of the decider. Third-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut joined sixth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber in the second round with a 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Florian Mayer. The Spaniard stands behind top seed Grigor Dimitrov and French second seed Lucas Pouille at the Aviation Club for an event, which lost Federer at the last minute. Bautista Agut's win ended a three-match losing streak which came after he won the Auckland title in January. Germany's Kohlschreiber, unable to defeat Andy Murray a year ago despite having seven match points, advanced over French qualifier Gleb Sakharov 6-4, 6-2. The 33rd-ranked Kohlschreiber will next play Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas, a winner over Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin, 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3. Dutchman Robin Haase, whose quarterfinal loss to Federer in Rotterdam returned the Swiss to the top ranking at age 36, beat French qualifier Quentin Halys, while former finalist Marcos Baghdatis saw off Viktor Troicki. — AFP