Gaudio out, Davydenko through in Hamburg

BERLIN, May 17 (Reuters) Former French Open champion and sixth seed Gaston Gaudio of Argentina lost in the second round of the Hamburg Masters today, beaten 6-4 3-6 6-4 by unseeded Frenchman Gilles Simon.

In windy and overcast conditions on the clay at the Am Rothenbaum number four seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia strolled into the third round, beating Italy's Andreas Seppi 6-1 6-2 to set up a clash with Finland's Jarkko Nieminen.

Ninth-seeded German Nicolas Kiefer disappointed the home crowd on the centre court, losing 6-2 6-2 to Max Mirnyi of Belarus.

Gaudio, who won at Roland Garros in 2004, reached the semi-finals at the Monte Carlo Masters last month before losing to eventual winner Rafael Nadal of Spain in three sets, but was knocked out in the first round of last week's Rome event.

The Buenos Aires-born right-hander looked to be in a strong position at 3-0 up in the final set, but the 21-year-old Simon fought back and will play Mirnyi in the next round.

Ukrainian-born Davydenko, a semi-finalist here and at the French Open in 2005, was forced to retire from his third-round match in Rome with a leg injury.

However, he came through easily on Wednesday against the tall Italian Seppi and is on course to meet fifth-seeded American James Blake in the quarter-finals.

British teenager Andy Murray, who scored an impressive win over Rome semi-finalist Gael Monfils of France yesterday, faces Blake later today.

The tournament has its weakest field in years after Roland Garros champion Nadal and last year's Hamburg winner Roger Federer pulled out, citing fatigue after their five-set Rome final on Sunday lasted more than five hours.

Argentina's David Nalbandian, Andy Roddick of the U.S. and Australia's Lleyton Hewitt had already withdrawn and only five of the world's top 10 are taking part.

Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic, number five in the world and the third seed, is now the highest-ranked player in the event and plays Argentina's Jose Acasuso on centre court later today.

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