Spain's Carlos Moya needed just an hour to book his place in the second round of the Hamburg Masters with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over American Mardy Fish yesterday.
The 30-year-old Moya, French Open champion in 1998, served impeccably and moved his opponent around the clay court with absolute command to seal victory in exactly 60 minutes.
After rattling through the first set, Moya made the crucial break in the second for a 4-3 lead and held easily to leave Fish on the brink.
PHOTO: AP
The American saved four match points, but could do no nothing when Moya took the contest at the fifth chance with a back-hand return that flashed across his opponent.
Moya advances to face Czech 10th seed Thomas Berdych in the second round.
Meanwhile, Marat Safin on Monday earned a torturous 7-6 (7), 6-4 victory over Nicolas Massu while Marcos Baghdatis slumped to his fourth opening-round defeat in five Masters events this year.
The 14th-seeded Baghdatis lost to German wild card Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-5, 6-3.
Safin rarely wins a match without resorting to drama, and it took him two fluctuating hours before he finally earned a second-round clash with former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Safin swept to a 4-0 lead, then the Chilean qualifier claimed the next five games, and the tempestuous Russian received a warning from the umpire for racket abuse before holding his serve to take the set to a tiebreaker.
Safin held off a set point and won the last three points for the set at 9-7, then moved a break up at 3-1 in the second, during which Massu repeatedly hurled his racket to the ground.
Safin led 5-2, failed to convert a match point at 5-3, and finally closed out the match when Massu double-faulted and then made a forehand error.
Baghdatis has fared poorly in most of the big tournaments this year, losing in the second round of the Australian Open after finishing as runner-up last year.
The Cypriot also failed to win a match in Masters Series events at Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo, before reaching the third round in Rome. The Masters tournaments are considered the biggest events outside of the Grand Slams.
France's Richard Gasquet, who reached the final here two years ago, beat Argentina's Gaston Gaudio 6-1, 6-4. Gaudio, the 2004 French Open champ, has won just five of 15 matches this year.
"It was a lot of wind today, but that is not a problem for me," 11th-seeded Gasquet said. "I grew up with the wind in the south of France and that's why I like to play with these conditions."
Gasquet was a shooting star two years ago, but injuries hindered his progress. Now he believes he is ready to make an impression in a Grand Slam. Despite being French, he says his best chance of success will come not at Roland Garros in two weeks, but at Wimbledon.
"I like to play on all the surfaces, on clay, on grass court," he said. "But on the grass court there are less players who can play well on it so maybe I think my best chances are in Wimbledon."
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