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.
PHOTO: AFP
Ferrer and Dupuis's ouster followed sixth-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal's elimination by Thierry Ascione of France in the first round Tuesday.
PHOTO: AFP
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.
Safin won the men's singles before the Czech pair got a consolation point when Novak and Strycova combined for a 3-6, 7-6 (1), 11-9 win the mixed doubles.
Safin, who spiraled down to No. 77 in the ATP entry system rankings due to a chronic wrist -problem in 2003, said he'd surprised himself with his early season singles form.
"It was tough, I was not scared because I was playing really well and this match was a very important match for me," said the 2000 US Open champion.
"The second match of the year, I am feeling great and fighting and running and doing everything as well to beat him."
Safin beat Frenchman Fabrice Santoro 6-3, 6-3 in his opening singles match here, his first singles win in nine months.
The Russians face the defending champion US on Friday and must beat Lindsay Davenport and James Blake 3-0 to have any chance of reaching the final.
Safin said he'd had felt twinges in his wrist, but nothing serious enough to sideline him.
"Yesterday I had some problems with the wrist, but it went away and didn't really bother me today," he said.
In matches later Thursday, Australia was against the Slovak Republic and Hungary faced Canada. Belgium had to forfeit its scheduled match against Hungary after Kim Clijsters withdrew from the tournament with an ankle problem.
AAPT Championships
Teenage wild card Todd Reid followed his first-round upset of top-seeded Wayne Ferreira with a 6-3, 6-2 win yesterday over Dutchman Raemon Sluiter to advance to the quarterfinals of the AAPT Championships.
The 19-year-old Australian next faces sixth-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, who had a 7-6 (2), 6-4 second-round win over Italian Davide Sanguinetti.
Big-serving Greg Rusedski's comeback after four months off with back problems ended in the second round, when he lost 6-2, 6-2 to Frenchman Cyril Saulnier.
Rusedski last played in September for Britain in the Davis Cup and his only other match at Memorial Drive in Adelaide was a rain-interrupted 6-4, 6-1 win over Swiss qualifier Stanislas Wawrinka in the first round.
Seventh-seeded Alberto Martin of Spain was against Dominic Hrbaty later yesterday before former No.1 Patrick Rafter, a dual US Open champion and two-time Wimbledon finalist, made his competitive comeback in men's doubles.
Rafter, who last played in November, 2001, was to partner fellow Australian Josh Eagle in men's doubles against Vincent Spadea and Mark Merklein.
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