Top seed and World No. 2 Rafael Nadal and No. 5 seed Tomas
Berdych sailed into the second round of the ABN AMRO World Tennis
Tournament in Rotterdam, the Netherlands on Wednesday, but former
world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt and No. 6 seed Andy Murray suffered
early exits.
Nadal dominated play against 33rd-ranked Russian Dmitry
Tursunov, winning in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4.
The Spaniard was joined by World No. 12 Berdych of the Czech
Republic, who produced a super performance to beat former top-5
player Ivan Ljubicic, who has dropped his ranking to 23rd in the
world, in straight sets.
But Hewitt, ranked 19th, was eliminated after winning the first
set 6-3, and leading most of the second set. He was defeated by
42nd-ranked Italian Andreas Seppi in three sets, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6.
World No. 10 Murray, fresh off title win at Marseille last
Sunday, suffered an uncharacteristic defeat by Dutchman Robin
Haase, who was playing with a wild card. The world No. 94 won 7-5,
6-3.
Murray was the fourth seed to be ousted from the 824,000-euro
tournament, following the exodus of defending champion and No. 4
seed Mikhail Youzhny, No. 7 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain and
8th-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.
In a second-round match on Wednesday, Russian qualifier Teimuraz
Gabashvili, ranked No. 132 in the world, became the first player to
enter the quarter finals by beating Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, the
world No. 40.
The hard-court event in Rotterdam has a strong field this year,
drawing 5 of the world's Top 10 players and 9 of the world's Top 20
stars.
(Xinhua News Agency February 21, 2008)