Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych, the Wimbledon runner-up, and Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis advanced to a third-round matchup with Tuesday triumphs at the ATP Cincinnati Masters tournament.
Berdych defeated France's Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-4 while 20th-ranked Baghdatis outlasted Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) at the three million-dollar event, a tune-up for the US Open that begins August 30.
Uzbek qualifier Denis Istomin ousted US wild card James Blake 6-3, 6-0 to book a second-round meeting Wednesday with Swiss third seed Roger Federer, who like all top-eight seeds received a first-round bye.
British fourth seed Andy Murray, fresh off taking the Toronto Masters title by defeating world number one Rafael Nadal and Federer in weekend matches, learned his second-round foe will be France's Jeremy Chardy.
Chardy eliminated Germany Florian Mayer 6-2, 7-6 (7/4).
Two other Frenchman advanced in three sets, with Richard Gasquet taking out Russian Mikhail Youzhny 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 and Julien Benneteau beating countryman Michael Llodra 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Two other Frenchmen were sent packing as well, with American Mardy Fish beating Gilles Simon 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 to secure a date with Spanish eighth seed Fernando Verdasco and Colombian Alejandro Falla ousting Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-4.
Lleyton Hewitt led 6-4, 4-0 when Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun retired, sending the Australian into a second-round encounter with Swedish fifth seed Robin Soderling.
Argentina's David Nalbandian, who won the Washington title earlier this month, ousted Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 7-5, 6-0 and will next face American John Isner, who fired 10 aces in beating Poland's Lukasz Kubot 6-2, 6-3.
Isner sat out last week in Toronto, still drained after winning a marathon first-round match at Wimbledon in which the 70-68 fifth set alone was longer than any other match in men's tennis history.
"That was one of the best matches I've played in a while," Isner said of his Tuesday triumph. “That's the best I've felt in a long time.”
“I've been gassed for the last 2-3 weeks and that match at Wimbledon took a lot out of me."
.jpg "Photo: Reuters")