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)