Tired Federer, Nadal pull out of Hamburg Masters

BERLIN, May 15 (Reuters) World number one Roger Federer and number two Rafael Nadal have pulled out of the Hamburg Masters tournament due to fatigue, organisers said today.

Nadal, 19, beat the Swiss in yesterday's Rome Masters final in a match that lasted more than five hours to equal Guillermo Vilas's record of 53 straight wins on clay.

The Spaniard will have to wait until the French Open, which begins at the end of the month, to make the 29-year-old mark his own.

Only five of the world's top 10 now remain in the tournament's weakest line-up in years. Argentina's David Nalbandian, American Andy Roddick and Australia's Lleyton Hewitt had already withdrawn.

Last year's winner Federer and Nadal will travel to Hamburg for medical check-ups as tour rules dictate and will be replaced in the draw by Sweden's Robin Soederling and Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic.

Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic is the highest ranked player in the tournament.

In the day's first-round matches, American fifth seed American James Blake beat former French Open champion Carlos Moya 6-3 3-6 7-5.

Moya's Spanish compatriot Tommy Robredo, the eighth seed, defeated Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic 6-3 6-2.

REUTERS DH SSC2110