BEIJING, 16 September 2004 — Top seed Carlos Moya got blown off court by a French teenager playing his first ATP Tour match at the rain-hit China Open yesterday.

The former world No. 1 was stunned 6-3, 6-3 by 19-year-old qualifier Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round of the $500,000 tournament.

Fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero showed glimpses of his old form, however, thrashing American Justin Gimelstob 6-4, 6-1 to reach the second round of the inaugural event.

Moya was forced to wait around for more than an hour while tournament officials mopped the court following more showers in Beijing. The 28-year-old looked as if his mind was already on this month’s Davis Cup semifinal against France as he simply had no answer to his opponent’s raw power.

Tsonga began with three successive aces and forced Moya into a string of errors, closing out the match after just 50 minutes with a crunching forehand volley.

Ferrero, himself a former world No. 1, has struggled with injury all year and was sidelined for part of the claycourt season by chickenpox.

The 24-year-old showed few signs of those problems against Gimelstob, finishing with an unreturnable serve after 74 minutes at Beijing Tennis Center, venue for the 2008 Olympic tournament.

Ferrero will take on American Kevin Kim in the next round. Kim crushed German Lars Burgsmueller 6-2, 6-2. Meanwhile, eighth seed Dominik Hrbaty pummeled home favorite Wang Yu 6-2, 6-2.

The Slovak next plays Italian Davide Sanguinetti, a 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 winner over Australian Nathan Healey. Asian No. 1 Paradorn Srichaphan survived an erratic second set to beat Frenchman Jean-Rene Lisnard 6-4, 7-5, the Thai sixth seed advancing to play Noam Okun of Israel.

Russian Mikhail Youzhny overcame Switzerland’s Ivo Heuberger 7-5, 7-6.

Spadea, Fish Advance

but Three Other Seeds Fall

In Delray Beach, Florida, top seed Vince Spadea rallied to join second-seeded fellow American Mardy Fish in the second round of the ATP International Championship here Tuesday.

Spadea outlasted Colombia’s Alejandro Falla 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 while Fish, the Athens Olympic silver medallist, blasted compatriot Andres Pedroso 6-1, 6-2.

Ousted in three sets in the opening round of the $380,000 event were sixth seed Cyril Saulnier of France, seventh seed Max Mirnyi of Belarus and eighth-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek.

Frenchman Sebastien DeChaunac eliminated Stepanek 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-1), 6-1 while Denmark’s Kenneth Carlsen downed Saulnier 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 and Mirnyi was defeated by American Hugo Armando 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4). The only other seed to reach the second round was Croatian third seed Mario Ancic.

Sanchez Falls to Acasuso

at Romanian Open

In Bucharest, Eighth-seeded Spaniard David Sanchez lost 6-3, 6-0 to unseeded Argentine Jose Acasuso in the Romanian Open second round yesterday to become the fourth seed to exit the tournament.

Fourth-seeded Russian Igor Andreev beat German Philipp Kohlschreiber 7-6, 6-2.

Big Names Tumble at

Bali WTA Event

In Nusa Dua, Indonesia, the big names at the Bali WTA tennis tournament, the $225,000 Wismilak International, endured a wretched day here yesterday as three of the top players bowed out to lower-ranked opposition. Japanese third seed Ai Sugiyama fell at the first hurdle along with America’s fifth-seeded Chanda Rubin and Jelena Jankovic, the eighth seed from Serbia and Montenegro.

Italy’s Tathiana Garbin, ranked 59th in the world, had US star Rubin packing her bags after a whirlwind encounter which ended 6-1, 6-4. Meanwhile a fatigued Jankovic lost out 6-4, 2-6, 2-6 to home favorite Angelique Widjaja of Indonesia.

South Korea’s Yoon Jeong Cho continued her strong showing after shocking Venezuelan sixth seed Maria Vento-Kabchi in the first round, she then took out Puerto Rico’s 46th-ranked played Kristina Brandi 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. In the day’s other second-round match, seventh seed Gisela Dulko of Argentina recovered from losing the first set to beat emotional Italian Flavia Pennetta 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.