Norman fell to Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina, 6-3, 6-2, for his second straight loss since coming back from hip surgery performed last August. The Swede endured a first-round defeat to Nicolas Massu last week in Vina Del Mar, Chile.

"I'm feeling better and better," said Norman, who reached the final of the French Open two years ago and was once ranked as high as No. 2. "I'm not feeling any pain, I just need more rhythm."

Norman owned a 2-1 lead in the first set, but Chela won 11 of the next 14 games.

"I'm more happy with the result than with my game," Chela said. "It's always important to beat players of the quality of Magnus Norman. Even tough he wasn't playing at his best, it was important win. I'd like to win the tournament, although I'm in the toughest part of the draw."

Chela could face third seed Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador in the second round, but would like to lift his game before that match.

"I wasn't happy with my game at the net; every time I attacked him I lost the point," Chela said. "I also need to improve my first serve percentage."

Last year's runner-up Jose Acasuso dispatched fourth-seeded Albert Portas of Spain, 6-3, 6-4. The 19-year-old from Argentina reached the quarterfinals in Chile last week and will face Italy's Andrea Gaudenzi, a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 winner over Austrian Markus Hipfl.

"I played very well and I'm very happy," Acasuso said. "I won two very good matches last week and that gave me a lot of confidence coming here. I hope I can play like this in the next match."

Seventh seed Marcelo Rios of Chile avoided his third straight loss Monday night with a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory over local wild card Edgardo Massa, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

After reaching consecutive quarterfinals in Auckland and the Australian Open, Rios suffered an opening-round defeat to Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina last week in Vina Del Mar, Chile. A loser in his first match here last year, he improved to 2-0 lifetime against Massa.

Also, No. 9 David Nalbandian of Argentina dispatched Albert Montanes of Spain, 6-2, 6-4 and Brazil's Fernando Meligeni routed American Michael Russell, 6-3, 6-0.

The champion earns $55,000.