BEIJING, Sept 26: Top seed David Ferrer was dumped out of the China Open on Thursday, while on the women’s side home favourite Zheng Jie cruised through to the quarter-finals.

Elsewhere on day four of the tournament, defending women’s champion Agnes Szavay lost in straight sets, but second seed Ana Ivanovic and 2007 men’s champion Fernando Gonzalez advanced.

Ferrer, playing his first match here, lost to world number 92 Dudi Sela of Israel, 6-3, 6-3, in just 70 minutes.Sela took advantage of a string of unforced errors by the world number five, part of a strong Spanish contingent here, winning comfortably.

“He played better than me and he fought more than me. I didn’t fight a lot because psychologically I am not in a good moment now,” Ferrer said.

“Maybe I was a little bit tired because I didn’t sleep very well for two nights,” added Ferrer, who helped Spain reach the Davis Cup final at the weekend with a win over Andy Roddick, the second seed here.

Roddick qualified for the last eight with a 6-4, 6-3 win over compatriot Brendan Evans, ranked 187 in the world.

Meanwhile, Zheng followed up her first-round victory over 10th-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama. Zheng, who will play Ivanovic in the quarter-finals, beat the Serbian on the way to the Wimbledon semi-finals this year, but she said it would be tough to repeat the feat.

“Ana is a really good player. I won at Wimbledon and that brought me more confidence but there is a difference between a grass court and a hard court,” she said. “I just want to try my best and let the crowd see an exciting match,” added Zheng, the only Chinese player left in the men’s or women’s draws.

The best-ever performance by a Chinese player at this tournament was by Peng Shuai, who reached the semi-final of the 2006 China Open but was one of the first-round losers on Tuesday, along with the host nation’s top player Li Na.

Ivanovic, who beat France’s Alize Cornet 6-1, 7-6 (7-1), said she was confident she could reclaim the number one ranking, currently held by Serena Williams.

Chile’s Gonzalez, the men’s number three seed, struggled in the first set against Japan’s Go Soeda but eventually won through to the quarter-finals 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.

In other matches played on Thursday, Spain’s former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero beat compatriot and number five seed Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-4.

Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova beat eighth seed Anna Chakvetadze, while Germany’s Bjorn Phau put out men’s eighth seed Sam Querrey and Hungary’s Szavay lost to Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain.

Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva, Tommy Robredo, Rainer Schuettler and Richard Gasquet also advanced.

Results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Men’s:

Second round: Dudi Sela (Israel) bt 1-David Ferrer (Spain) 6-3, 6-3; 2-Andy Roddick (US) bt Brendan Evans (US) 6-4, 6-3; 6-Tommy Robredo (Spain) bt Ivo Minar (Czech Republic) 6-2, 6-3; 7-Rainer Schuettler (Germany) bt Jean-Claude Scherrer (Switzerland) 6-1, 6-4; Bjorn Phau (Germany) bt 8-Sam Querrey (US) 5-7, 6-3, 6-4; Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) bt 5-Fernando Verdasco (Spain) 7-5, 6-4; 3-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) bt Go Soeda (Japan) 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1; 4-Richard Gasquet (France) bt Lu Yen-Hsun (TPE) 7-5, 6-1.

Women’s:

Second round: 4-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) bt Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) 6-2, 6-3; Zheng Jie (China) by Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-1, 6-2; Dominika Cibulkova (Slovakia) bt 8-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) 6-3, 6-2; 5-Vera Zvonareva (Russia) bt Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2; Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) bt Agnes Szavay (Hungary) 6-2, 6-2; 2-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) bt Alize Cornet (France) 6-1, 7-6 (7-1).

DJOKOVIC IN QUARTERS

BANGKOK: Novak Djokovic made a winning return after a four-year absence from the Thailand Open, powering into the quarter-finals 6-1, 6-3 over German Simon Stadler on Thursday.

The Serb set up a Friday match with Swedish sixth seed Robin Soderling, a winner over Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-1, 6-3.

Top seed Djokovic played the event in 2004, losing in the first round as a teenage wild card, but he returns as one of the best players in the world.

Djokovic swept through the opening set in 22 minutes against an opponent ranked 141 who came in with only five ATP matches this season.

Djokovic’s momentum slowed only slightly as he lost serve for 0-2 in the second set, but he quickly earned a break back and added another break in the seventh game on his run to the finish.

The Australian Open champion won his 56th match of the season as he seeks a fourth title in 2008.

Third seed Tomas Berdych defeated Italy’s Simone Bolelli 7-5, 6-1, while France’s Nicolas Mahut upset Finnish fifth seed Jarkko Nieminen 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 as the number 74 joined compatriots Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils in the last eight.

Mahut, 26, took a 3-1 lead over world ranked 33 Nieminen in the final set only to lose the advantage a game later as the Finn broke back for 2-3.

But Mahut held his nerve to serve out the upset on the first of three match points and claim his 15th win of the season.

Results:

Second round: Nicolas Mahut (France) bt 5-Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; 6-Robin Soderling (Sweden) bt Teimuraz Gabashvili (Russia) 6-1, 6-3; 8-Jurgen Melzer (Austria) bt Viktor Troicki (Serbia) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4); Philipp Petzschner (Germany) bt Mischa Zverev (Germany) 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-1; 1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) bt Simon Stadler (Germany) 6-1, 6-3; 3-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) bt Simone Bolelli (Italy) 7-5, 6-1.—Agencies