STUTTGART, Germany, 16 July 2003 — Teenager Rafael Nadal tamed German qualifier Philipp Petzschner 7-5, 6-1 to move into the second round of the 765,000-euro Mercedes Cup here yesterday.

The 17-year-old Spaniard has already proved himself in the heat of competition since the spring, defeating senior compatriots Albert Costa and Carlos Moya on clay.

His victory against 19-year-old Petzschner puts him into a contest today against Chile’s sixth seed Fernando Gonzalez.

While Nadel is new to the ATP, he is learning fast - and applying his natural talents to the clay of the Weissenhof club. He comes to Stuttgart from his first career semifinal last weekend in Bastad, Sweden.

“Germany has been very good for me, I reached the final of a Challenger in Hamburg in February and had a great Masters in Hamburg. “For the moment, Germany is fine, I like playing here,” said the world No. 58.

Feliciano Lopez recovered from a poor start to upset seventh seed Felix Mantilla 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 in a thrilling all-Spanish second round battle.

Second seed Guillermo Coria improved to a 24-5 record this season as he stormed into the third round with a 7-6, 6-3 win over France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu.

The Argentine picked up where he left off last May on German clay when he lifted the Hamburg Masters title and he also took revenge after losing to Mathieu at Long Island last summer.

“I came off a long break, so I was nervous out there,” said the clay specialist. “It was a tough match, he played well.”

The Roland Garros semifinalist, and Monte Carlo finalist, now faces either 16th seed Ivan Ljubicic or Spain’s David Ferrer who put out last weekend’s champion at Bastad, Argentine Mariano Zabaleta 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.

Czech Jiri Vanek upset former French Open winner Albert Costa, seeded eighth 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.

Costa admitted to some rustiness in his game after not playing since Roland Garros due to a knee injury.

Crowd-pleaser Younes El Aynaoui, the Moroccan tenth seed, delivered another blow to Argentina with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 win over Gaston Etlis while Belarus 13th seed Max Mirnyi hammered Spanish qualifier Marc Lopez 6-4, 6-3.

Injured Verkerk

Suffers New Setback

In Amersfoort, Netherlands, French Open finalist Martin Verkerk, hampered by a shoulder injury, crashed out of the 355,000-euro ATP tournament yesterday at the hands of unheralded Italian Giorgio Galimberti.

Dutchman Verkerk, the top seed, went down 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to his 136th-ranked opponent but his performance was affected by the injury.

The claycourt tournament also lost its second seed when Argentina’s Gaston Gaudio lost 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) to Frenchman Jean-Rene Lisnard.