Defending champion Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand breezed into the quarterfinals of the Tata Open tennis tournament, but seventh-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer and eighth-seeded French player Anthony Dupuis were knocked out in the second round Wednesday.
Asian champion Paradorn, ranked 11th in the world, swamped Israel's Harel Levy 6-2, 6-2 in the second round, while unheralded Russian Igor Andreev stunned Ferrer 6-2, 6-3 and Dupuis lost 7-5, 6-3 to compatriot Jean-Rene Lisnard.
Ferrer and Dupuis's ouster followed sixth-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal's elimination by Thierry Ascione of France in the first round Tuesday.
Fourth-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain reversed the trend by carving out a 6-2, 6-2 triumph against Denmark's Kenneth Carlsen, whom he broke twice in each set to make the quarterfinals.
The 24-year-old Lisnard, a semifinalist here last year and 96th on the Association of Tennis Professionals' rankings, rallied back after dropping service in the third game as he broke back in the sixth and 12th games to clinch the first set.
Dupuis, ranked 78th, faltered again in the eighth game of the second set as Lisnard applied pressure to secure passage into the quarterfinals.
Lisnard said his fight-back from a break down materialized as he clinched the big points in the opening set.
"I was a break down and he was playing a strong game, but things turned my way after I secured the big points," Lisnard said.
"A semifinal appearance here was my the best performance on the circuit last year. I'm confident of a repeat performance," said Lisnard, whose first-round game against Denmark's Kristian Pless on Monday was interrupted by a power failure just one point away from victory.
"With the lights going off half an hour after midnight, that was a funny start to my campaign," he said.
The erratic Ferrer was penalized for a ball-abuse violation in the first set which he started by effecting a service-break to lead 2-0 before conceding six points in a row.
Ferrer continued to falter with his service -- dropping service three times in each set -- to ease the 20-year-old Andreev's passage into the quarterfinals.
The second-seeded Paradorn, 24, asserted his authority early by breaking Levy in the opening game of the first set.
Levy was again broken in the fifth game of the opening set, and then in the third and seventh games of the second set as Paradorn secured victory in 45 minutes.
Paradorn had won the title last year without dropping a set, but said he was now trying to play down the defending champion's tag to ease the pressure.
"I try not to think about defending the title every time I go on to the court. Pushing it out of the mind is the way I try to reduce the pressure," Paradorn said.
"Levy's a tough competitor, which may not reflect in the scores. I had to work hard for this win," he said. "I was trying to put speed in my shots and keep the ball in play, but wasn't rushing to finish the points."
Hopman Cup
Former world No. 1 Marat Safin rallied for a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6), 6-3 win over Jiri Novak to clinch Russia's win over Czech Republic at the Hopman Cup yesterday and keep his country in contention for a spot in the final.
Anastasia Myskina gave the Russians a 1-0 buffer with a 6-3, 7-6 (0) win over Barbora Strycova in the women's singles, overcoming early problems with her serve to dominate the tiebreaker.
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