Top-seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain and sixth-seeded Frenchman Fabrice Santoro scored easy wins on Thursday to advance to the quarter-finals of the Chennai Open.
World No. 2 Nadal outplayed Indian wild card Karan Rastogi 6-4, 6-1, while Santoro got over his fitness problems to defeat German player Bjorn Phau 6-4, 6-2.
Fourth-seeded Julien Benneteau faced a stiff opening set before defeating Igor Andreev of Russia 7-6 (4), 6-2 to make the quarter-finals, but two other seeded player faltered in the second round.
PHOTO: EPA
Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand, a former champion seeded seventh this time, was knocked out by seasoned Austrian Stefan Koubek, whose 6-1, 6-2 triumph took him to the quarter-finals.
Eighth-seeded Nicolas Mahut of France also fell by the wayside, beaten 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-3 by David Sanguinetti of Italy.
Four-time finalist and 2003 winner of this tournament, Paradorn, 27, was troubled by a painful right wrist that last month forced him to pull out of the Asian Games in Doha.
World No. 79 Koubek coasted to an easy win in 47 minutes after breaking the 53rd-ranked Paradorn's service in the fourth and sixth games of the opening set, and then in the first and seventh games of the second set.
Nadal said it was he who was under pressure playing the 480th-ranked Rastogi.
"A victory is considered normal when you're ranked second in the world, but a defeat is terrible," said Nadal, adding that he committed several errors in the first set.
"It was fantastic playing the world No. 2, I was going with the flow trying to enjoy the match," said Rastogi, 20, who won his first match on the ATP Tour when he defeated Brazilian Thiago Alves in the first round on Wednesday.
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