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BEIJING, China - Dominik Hrbaty took out his
frustrations over a poor showing at the U.S. Open. The fifth seed from Slovakia, Hrbaty rolled to a 6-1, 6-0
victory over South Africa's Rik de Voest in the first round of
the $475,000 China Open on Monday. Losing in the opening round at Flushing Meadows in straight sets
to Russia's Mikhail Youzhny, Hrbaty absorbed his quickest exit
from the U.S. Open since 1999. In the previous six years, the
28-year-old had at least reached the fourth round three times,
including a quarterfinal appearance in 2004. Hrbaty bounced back in relative ease against de Voest, cashing
in on six break chances to seal his 21st win of the season in 64
minutes. His next opponent will be either Paraguay's Ramon
Delgado or Alexander Peya of Austria. The only other seeded players in action, No. 6 Paradorn
Srichaphan and No. 8 Hyung-Taik Lee also advanced without much
of a challenge. A semifinalist here in 2004, Srichaphan captured a 6-3, 6-3
triumph over Germany's Rainer Schuettler. The native of
Thailand will square off in the second round against the winner
from the match between Australia's Nathan Healey and Satoshi
Iwabuchi of Japan. The Korean Lee, who won a Challenger event in Kentucky in July,
dispatched Igor Kunitsyn of Russia, 6-3, 6-4. His next opponent
will be either Michael Berrer of Germany or Japan's Gouichi
Motomura. The top seed in this hardcourt event is Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic,
who also will be looking to bounce back from a first-round loss
at the U.S. Open. No. 2 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia reached
the semifinals at the year's last Grand Slam, losing to eventual
champion Roger Federer. Defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain in not entered. Other winners on Monday include American Kevin Kim, Italian
Stefano Galvani and local wild card Yeu-Tzuoo Wang.
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