Coria and Novak Score Wins
Wimbledon quarter-finalist Xavier Malisse of Belgium took second seed Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic to three sets, splitting tiebreaks before going down 3-6 in the third.
He said the big Czech was too good for him, wisely not mentioning the brutally-hot midday conditions on court which were, of course, the same for both players.
But no-one in the Vodafone singles was making any rationalisations about their form.
American Jan-Michael Gambill exited "his favourite tournament" at the hands of Spaniard David Sanchez, losing 7-6 (5) 6-3. Sanchez's error-free rallying wore Gambill down, and some ordinary line calls against him were no excuse.
The seventh seed, Fernando Gonzalez of Chile was shown the door by Dutchman Raemon Sluiter in straight sets, 6-3 6-4. Sluitter looks to be the tournament's dark horse, and is middling the ball beautifully. Gonzalez had no answer to his vicious groundstrokes.
"He (Gonzalez) can just choose a difficult ball and try and do something with it, therefore he's very difficult to play. You don't know what to expect. He hits the ball hard, about the top 3 or 5 who can hit the hardest," said Sluiter.
My serve is OK, it's pretty solid. There was not a lot of wind but in a stadium like this, the wind comes in, in circles. Makes it a little bit tough on the ball toss for the serve.
I play double-handed on both sides so I need one step more to get closer to the ball, so that's why I have to be quick.
Top seed Guillermo Coria of Argentina struggled to get going against Nicolas Kiefer of Germany but won 7-6 (4) 6-3. Kiefer started to overhit when the pressure went on, and Coria eventually progressed without too much exertion.
"I'm happy because it was the first match of the year. I didn't play very very well, but I'm happy," said the world number five.
"I feel I'm at about 70 per cent in terms of match fitness, but at 100 per cent overall fitness. I'm feeling a little tired at the moment. I just want to feel more loose as the week goes on."
Gregory Carraz of France beat Karol Beck of Slovakia 6-4 6-7 (3) 6-3.
Beck's nerve seemed to desert him at the death, after he had fought back well.
