Ferrero Exits Quickly at ATP Beijing

Chinese fans got their yuan's worth Thursday in Beijing when the rain-soaked schedule forced some of the top seeds to double-up on the day.

No. 3 seed David Nalbandian (d. Pless in three, then (WC) Y.Lu in three) and No. 5 Marat Safin (d. Bogomolov Jr., (WC) H.Lu) each won two, with H.Lu also beating (LL) Prakash Amritraj in three earlier in the day.

The biggest "upset" of the day came with weaponless American Kevin Kim upending No. 2 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero. Many speculate Ferrero was following Spanish countryman Carlos Moya's lead in exiting the tournament to get more preparation on clay for their upcoming Davis Cup semifinal against France.

"Ferrero's forehand is powerful, so I tried to hit back to his backhand and he really made some errors then," Kim said.

Ferrero also lost first round in the doubles before hopping on the plane out of Beijing.

Two additional seeds were sent out of the tournament in No. 4 Rainer "Shine" Schuettler (l. to Youzhny) and No. 7 Taylor Dent (l. to Nieminen).

Two other seeds advanced in No. 6 Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan (d. Okun 7-6 in the third, saving a m.p.) and No. 8 Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty (d. Sanguinetti).

In the only all-unseeded match, Korea's Hyung-Taik Lee took out Moya-killer Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

On tap for the Friday quarterfinals are Youzhny vs. (8) The Dominator, H.-T. Lee vs. (6) The Thai Fighter in an all-Asian, Nieminen vs. (3) Nalbandian, and (5) Safin vs. K.Kim.