UPDATE 1-Tennis-Tipsarevic knocks out Rotterdam champion Youzhny

(recasts after Youzhny defeat)

By Theo Ruizenaar

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Holder Mikhail Youzhny made a shock first-round exit at the World Indoor Tournament on Monday, losing 7-6 6-4 to unseeded Serb Janko Tipsarevic.

The fourth-seeded Russian broke serve in the fifth game but Tipsarevic hit back to level before taking the tiebreak 7-3.

Youzhny, who routed world number two Rafael Nadal 6-0 6-1 in last month's Chennai Open final, also dropped his serve in the first game of the second set as his opponent took command from the baseline.

"Although I've hardly played in recent weeks through illness I still felt the good vibes from (last month's) Australian Open," Tipsarevic told reporters.

The Serb reached the third round of the grand slam event in Melbourne but had to pull out of the Davis Cup tie with Russia in Moscow earlier this month due to a stomach bug.

AGGRESSIVE PLAYER