Paul Goldstein of Rockville waged a war in his first professional match at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic yesterday, but he did not have quite enough firepower to defeat Sargis Sargsian. Goldstein, a four-time All-Met from Sidwell Friends School, was knocked out in the first round by Sargsian, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, on the Stadium Court at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center.

Goldstein said he couldn't blame his result on nerves, especially considering he had been practicing with Sargsian, ranked No. 63 in the world, in the days leading up to tournament. But on Stadium Court with family and friends — including Chelsea Clinton, a schoolmate at Sidwell Friends and Stanford — behind him, Goldstein was not able to overcome Sargsian, who had the mettle to win the crucial points at the end of the match.

"Sargsian is a great player with a lot of experience," Goldstein said. "In the third set, there were a bunch of games that went to deuce and were real close. Either way, a point here, a point there; those are points you really have to play solidly, and Sargis played those points more solidly and stronger than I did."

Another young player with ties to the area was more successful than Goldstein as the tournament opened yesterday. Qualifier David Caldwell, a native of Richmond, defeated No. 13 seed Kenneth Carlsen, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. Caldwell, 24, wore out Carlsen, ranked No. 63 in the world, earning his first ATP Tour victory on his sixth attempt.

Leading by 6-5 in the third set, Sargsian avoided a tiebreaker by winning the final three points. During the decisive rally, Goldstein's cross-court forehand, which would have been a sure winner, landed inches wide.

"I need to play with more confidence in those critical situations, and I clearly didn't do that," Goldstein said. "In order for me to make any kind of a jump to be successful, when it gets to those critical situations in the match, you just got to be more confident than I was. . . ."

Goldstein said part of his problem was getting in only 51 percent of his first serves.

"I needed to make more first serves, because I'm never going to serve 130 [mph] or anything," Goldstein said. "So you really have to make first serves and try to set yourself up with first serves. I want to be able to dictate the point off of my serve, and clearly I wasn't doing that."

Using excellent returns, Sargsian, 25, from Armenia, won three of six break points.

While Goldstein may have lost this match, he looks forward to plenty more. While at Stanford, he became the only collegiate player to win four NCAA team titles, and he also advanced to the NCAA singles final late last month, losing in straight sets to teammate Bob Bryan.

Goldstein said he doesn't regret his decision to stay in school four years, and feels comfortable knowing that whenever he decides to leave professional tennis, he can fall back on his degree in human biology.

"I feel my four years at Stanford was an incredible experience," Goldstein said. "To be honest, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. I had a wonderful experience. If I had gone pro as an 18-year-old and had played tennis five hours a day and made tennis my sole priority, clearly I'd be a better tennis player than I am."

Caldwell also played four years in college — at the University of North Carolina, where he was a three-time ACC champion. After having played mostly in small tournament so far in his young career, Caldwell earned his first memorable victory over a top-100 player.

"You go out there so many times and you keep losing, you kind of start to psyche yourself out a little," Caldwell said. "After five losses, I settled down a little and decided to play a normal match, and I guess it worked."

Down by 5-4 in the third set, Caldwell went on a tear to close out the match. On serve with the score 30-30, Caldwell won the next 10 points, overpowering Carlsen with powerful forehand winners.

"My backhand was traditionally my better shot," Caldwell said. "But [the forehand] is something I've been working hard on, and it's a good feeling when you start to hit it."

During extended rallies, Caldwell moved the 6-foot-3 Danish player from side to side and threw in an occasional drop shot. "I felt like when we had some really long points, I was winning the majority of them," Caldwell said. "That helped me be a little bit more patient and a little bit more confident."

Carlsen's booming serves helped him cruise through the first set. If he wasn't blowing aces past Caldwell, he was forcing Caldwell to hit returns long, wide and short.

But late in the match, Carlsen appeared to wilt in the afternoon heat, toweling off at least every other point. His first serves were not going in as frequently, and he was not getting as many aces. He ended the match with 21 aces and a first serve percentage of 58 percent.

Early in the match, Caldwell struggled to keep Carlsen's backhand slice in play and often stood helpless as serves zipped past him. But later, he solved the slice and began pounding shots in that direction.

"I played too tentative and I was basically giving the match to him," Caldwell said. "That was an area I felt I could go to, and not feel like he was going to pressure me. That was comforting. After I settled down, I wasn't as tight in the arms."

In another first-round match, Paul Harsanyi of Potomac gave Maurice Ruah of Venezuela a run, but was not able to become the first local wild card challenge winner to advance to the second round. The Churchill High graduate lost, 6-0, 6-7 (2-7), 6-2.