Top seed Moya stunned in Beijing
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-16 10:06

Top seed Carlos Moya got blown off court by a French teenager playing his first ATP Tour match at the rain-it China Open on Wednesday.

The former world number one 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 semi-final 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.

"My serve and my forehand are my best weapons and they did not work today," shrugged Moya. "When those two weapons fall apart, I can lose to most players."

Ferrero, himself a former world number one, 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 Centre, venue for the 2008 Olympic tournament.

FRUSTRATING YEAR

"There was a lot of frustration this year," said Ferrero, who has dropped out of the top 10 for the first time since May 2002.

"There was always one more problem, then another problem. It was impossible to play normal tennis. Now I feel 85 to 90 percent physically. I feel comfortable and I feel strong."

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 pummelled home favourite 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 number one 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 in a match that was interrupted by rain on Tuesday.

Russian Marat Safin and David Nalbandian of Argentina were among those who were again unable to contest their first round matches because of bad weather.

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