Juan Carlos Ferrero became the second major casualty of the China Open yesterday, the number two seed losing 6-4 6-4 to American Kevin Kim in the second round.
Fellow Spaniard Carlos Moya, the top seed in Beijing, went out to French qualifier Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round on Wednesday.
PHOTO: EPA
Like Moya, Ferrero played as if his mind was already on this month's Davis Cup semifinal against France, making a string of unforced errors against his 143rd-ranked opponent.
"Some days you lose," shrugged the former world number one, who has dropped out of the top 10 for the first time since May 2002 after an injury-troubled year.
"I don't know about Moya but I wasn't thinking about the Davis Cup. I had a lot of chances in the second set but I didn't make them and I lost the match. It happens."
Russian Marat Safin reached the second round of the rain-hit tournament with a 6-4 7-5 victory over American Alex Bogomolov.
Third seed David Nalbandian finished his delayed match against Kristian Pless of Denmark, the Argentine winning 7-6 3-6 6-3.
Safin and Nalbandian are scheduled to play again later in the day as organizers tried to clear a backlog of matches caused by two days of bad weather.
Former world number one Safin, bidding to win his first title in two years, was never seriously tested by Bogomolov.
The Russian fifth seed wrapped up a comfortable victory with an exquisite drop shot after 71 minutes at Beijing Tennis Center, venue for the 2008 Olympic tournament.
Safin faces Chinese wildcard Lu Hao in the second round. Lu beat Prakash Amritraj 4-6 6-4 6-2. Nalbandian faced Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan later yesterday.
Spain take on France in their Davis Cup semifinal in Alicante from Sept. 24 to Sept. 26.
The former world number one Carlos Moya was stunned 6-3 6-3 by 19-year-old qualifier Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round of the US$500,000 tournament.
Moya was forced to wait around for more than an hour while tournament officials mopped the court following more showers in Beijing.
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