Seeds Hrbaty, Paradorn cruise through in China

BEIJING, Sep 11 (Reuters) Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty brushed off a first-round US Open exit by making light work of his opening match at the China Open today with a 6-1 6-0 victory over South African Rik De Voest.

The fifth seed was joined in the second round of the 500,000 dollar tournament by Asia's top player Paradorn Srichaphan, who downed Germany's Rainer Schuettler 6-3 6-3 on a warm evening at the Beijing Tennis Centre.

Now in his 10th year on the ATP circuit, Hrbaty looked every inch the seasoned professional as he imposed his game on De Voest, who has spent most of his year battling it out on the Challenger circuit.

Hrbaty, 28, conceded the scoreline was not a true reflection of the contest, although tellingly the South African dug deepest trying to save his own serve and ultimately the match.

Sixth seeded Thai Paradorn raced through the first set against an error-prone Schuettler and secured his place in the last 16 with an ace after an hour and six minutes.

South Korea's Lee Hyung-Taik, the eighth seed, also boosted Asian pride with his 6-3 6-4 victory over Russian Igor Kunitsyn.

Earlier, mainland China's representation in the tournament was halved when wild card Yu Xin Yuah was beaten 6-1 6-4 by Taiwan's Wang Yeu-Tzuoo.

The top four seeds, including US Open semi-finalist Nikolay Davydenko, are scheduled to play their opening matches on Tuesday.

Organisers said they were still expecting second seed Davydenko, who won at New Haven the week before his run to the last four at Flushing Meadow, to arrive in the Chinese capital on Tuesday morning.

REUTERS AY BS1922