Mason, Ohio: Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych cruised to a 6-4, 6-4 win over Paul-Henri Mathieu on Tuesday to become the first player to reach the round of 16 at the $ 2.4 million Western & Southern Financial Group Masters.
The seventh-seeded Berdych, who lost to Roger Federer in the semifinals at Toronto last week, will next face 20th-ranked Marcos Baghdatis who was pushed by No. 25 Thomaz Bellucci to three sets and a tiebreaker before prevailing 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (4).
Three of the seeded players went out in first-round matches on Tuesday.
No. 12 Mikhail Youzhny fell to 41st-ranked Frenchman Richard Gasquet 2-6, 6-4, 6-1; No. 15 Ivan Ljubicic lost 7-5, 6-0 to the resurgent David Nalbandian; and No. 16 Gael Monfils was eliminated by 67th-ranked Colombian Alejandro Falla 6-3, 6-4.
In other first-round results, Mardy Fish took out Gilles Simon 7-6 (4), 7-5. Denis Istomin had a convincing 6-3, 6-4 win over James Blake who has slumped from the top 10 to a No. 107 ranking and former US Open and Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt advanced after Lu Yen-hsun retired while trailing by a set and two breaks.
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