Robredo, Ljubicic move into second round

Rotterdam, the Netherlands:

Tommy Robredo and Ivan Ljubicic advanced to the second round of the ABN Amro tennis tournament at Rotterdam on Tuesday. Fourth-seeded Tomas Berdych, however, was knocked out after losing to Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1. The second-seeded Robredo beat Simone Bolelli of Italy 6-2, 6-2, while Ljubicic, seeded third, downed doubles partner Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-3. Berdych became the first seeded player ousted from the tournament as Youzhny raced to a 5-0 lead in the third set. Sixth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain overpowered Christophe Rochus of Belgium 6-3, 6-0, finding all corners of the court with strong shots. Kristof Vliegen, who helped Belgium beat Australia last week in the Davis Cup, beat Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-1, 6-4, and Florian Mayer of Germany beat Dominik Hrbaty Slovenia 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-5. Lleyton Hewitt pulled out of the tournament, a day before his opening match, saying he had not recovered from a hamstring injury picked up last week in Marseille. "It's improving, but it's improving slowly," Hewitt said.