Young Spanked, Qualifiers Have Their Day Thursday at Miami

Six of the nine qualifiers in action Thursday at the Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami advanced into the second round, led by comeback veterans Arnaud Clement (d. Berdych who retired with injury) and Nicolas Lapentti (d. Beck).

Other qualifier winners were American Jeff Morrison (d. Koubek), Italy's David Sanguinetti (d. Hernych), German Bjorn Phau (d. Calatrava, bagel in the second), and Frenchman Jean-Rene Lisnard (d. (WC) Young).

For Young, who was up a break in the second set, it was another lesson from the school of hard knocks.

"In the juniors, when I was up like 5-3, they were probably giving me that game," said Young of the difference between playing in the pros and the juniors. "Instead, he kept playing and came back and won the match. So, I mean, they just don't stop, I guess."

Wildcard Mark Philippoussis recorded a much-needed win over Belgian qualifier Christophe Rochus, while American Mardy Fish also advanced with a three-set win over Czech qualifier Tomas Zib.

Other winners on the all-unseeded day were Germany's Florian Mayer (d. (Q) Burgsmuller in an all-German), Czech Ivo Minar (d. Monaco in three), Brazil's Ricardo Mello (d. Ventura who retired with injury), Belgian Olivier Rochus (d. Karlovic 7-6 in the third), Argentina's Mariano Zabaleta (d. Muller), Romanian Victor Hanescu (d. Dupuis), and Frenchmen Julien Benneteau (d. Sargsian, bagel in the first) and Paul-Henri Mathieu (d. Tabara in three).

The seeds come out Friday with scheduled matches (5) Moya vs. (WC) Blake, Fernando "Hot Sauce" Verdasco vs. (2) Roddick, Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze vs. (3) Safin, Robby "Baby Courier" Ginepri vs. (21) Spadea in an all-American, (8) Nalbandian vs. Acasuso, (24) Novak vs. K.Kim, Ferrero vs. (11) Canas, (29) Rafael "The Prodigy" Nadal vs. Rainer "Shine" Schuettler, Bjorkman vs. (12) Robredo, Ferrer vs. Xavier "X-Man" Malisse, H.-T. Lee vs. (17) Youzhny, (14) Davydenko vs. (WC) Gael "Force" Monfils, (26) Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty vs. Nieminen, "Grinning" Greg Rusedski vs. (25) T.Johansson, (13) Ljubicic vs. A.Martin, and (20) Pavel vs. Andreev.

"Maybe he win. Maybe I win. But I know now I can win," said Verdasco, who lost to Roddick in three sets at Indian Wells. "I know it will be close. But for me, it's possible to win."