With racket-smashing panache, seeded veterans Mardy Fish and Marat Safin made vivid first and last impressions, losing opening-round matches, as well as their cool, Tuesday in an upsetting day at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic.

In addition to those unsightly, back-to-back Stadium Court flameouts at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center, another upset was underway on the Grandstand Court, where American qualifier Robert Kendrick made quick work of No. 3 seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain, 6-3, 7-5.

The surprises, paired with John Isner's victory over No. 8 Marcel Granollers of Spain and Bobby Reynolds' win over No. 7 Marc Gicquel, both Monday, left only three of eight seeds alive with first-round matches still underway at press time Tuesday night.

Before No. 1 seeded Andy Roddick made a successful opening statement, defeating Paraguay's Ramon Delgado, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), bad behavior was the story at the Stadium Court Tuesday.

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After destroying his racket in a 7-5 opening-set loss to Fabio Fognini of Italy, the sixth-seeded Safin, retired with a neck injury, saying afterward he pulled a muscle on the second point of the match.

If the fifth-seeded Fish had retired, he would have spared himself some anguish. In his 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 loss to Colombian left-hander Alejandro Falla, Fish displayed a remarkable array of racket tosses — spikes, a double flip with a back-handed catch, and finally a smash of his uncooperative Wilson at the end of the second set, leaving the instrument inoperable and earning a warning from the chair.

Falla, ranked No. 122 in the world, seized the opportunity with composure and flawless play in the final set, avenging a decisive loss to Fish just eight days earlier in Los Angeles.

“I started serving pretty well,” said Falla. “And, of course, he was angry, so I took that. It helped me.”

The topsy-turvy day leaves defending champion Roddick as the only seed remaining in the wide-open top half of the draw. Intriguing matchups in the second round include a meeting of qualifiers — Kendrick and Somdev Devvarman, a Virginia grad who won the NCAA championship the last two years.