Tennis-French trio exit early in New Haven

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, Aug 17 (Reuters) - It was a bad day for France on the opening day of the ATP event in New Haven when all three men in action suffered defeats on Sunday.

Nicolas Mahut, Florent Serra and Nicolas Devilder were all sent packing in the first round, while American Donald Young was another man to go out.

World number 81 Mahut, who has won just two matches since Wimbledon, was ousted 5-7 6-3 6-3 by Czech Ivo Minar, while Serra, a quarter-finalist in Los Angeles earlier this month, was beaten 6-2 7-6 by Germany's Mischa Zverev.

Devilder joined them on the sidelines at the final warm-up event before the U.S. Open after he was ousted 7-6 7-5 by Albert Montanes of Spain.

American Young, 19, whose ranking has slipped to 99th in recent months, fared even worse, losing 6-4 6-2 to Israeli Dudi Sela, who now plays top seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain.

In the women's event, there were wins for Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova and Olga Govortsova of Belarus. (Writing by Simon Cambers; Editing by John O'Brien)