Tue Jan 15 02:17:42 2008

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Djokovic, Ferrer advance, Ljubicic done in Aussie Open on Day 2

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Melbourne, Australia (Sports Network) - Third-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic and fifth-seeded Spainard David Ferrer both had straight set wins to advance to the second round at the Australian Open during Day 2 of the men's bracket in Melbourne.

Djokovic breezed through the first two sets and outlasted Germany's Benjamin Becker 6-0, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) while Ferrer had an easier time posting a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 victory over France's Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

Tenth-seeded David Nalbandian of Argentina was a straight-set winner over Australia's Robert Smeets 6-1, 6-1, 7-6 (7-1).

In other top-20 action, 15th-seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis knocked out Sweden's Thomas Johansson 7-6 (7-0), 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, while 19th-seeded Australian Lleyton Hewitt had an easy time with Belgium's Steve Darcis 6-0, 6-3, 6-0.

A upset occurred as the Dutchman Robin Haase knocked off Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic, the 17th-seed, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-0, 7-6 (7-1).

Juan Monaco of Argentina, the 21st-seed, defeated compatriot Carlos Berlocq 7-6 (7-5), 7-5, 6-1 while Spain's Fernando Verdasco, the 25th-seed, breezed past France's Thierry Ascione 6-4, 6-0, 6-3

In unseeded action, Australia's Alun Jones, American Amer Delic, Italian Simone Bolelli, Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic, France's Sebastien Grosjean, Korea's Hyung-Taik Lee, Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin and Germany's Denis Gremelmayr all advanced.

Still waiting to play on Tuesday is top-seeded and two-time defending Melbourne champion Roger Federer. The super Swiss will open defense of his titles against Argentine Diego Hartfield.

Federer is a 12-time Grand Slam event champion and defeated Chilean Fernando Gonzalez in last year's Aussie Open finale. A seventh-seeded Gonzalez will face Greek Konstantinos Economidis on Tuesday.

American and 12-seed James Blake also awaits his match, against unseeded Nicolas Massu.