MADRID, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Spain's Carlos Moya and Juan Carlos Ferrero had the home crowd to thank Tuesday for helping them advance to the third round of the $2.33 million Tennis Masters Madrid.
Moya, the eighth seed, saved a match point Tuesday before overcoming Chile's Fernando Gonzalez, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4), in two hours, 41 minutes. In another marathon at this hardcourt event, the fifth-seeded Ferrero outlasted Finland's Jarkko Nieminen, 6-3, 6-7 (8-6), 7-5.
However, third seed Marat Safin of Russia and former world No. 1 Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil were knocked out in their opening matches.
After saving match point in the second set, Moya wasted a 5-2 advantage in the third before prevailing in the decisive tiebreak.
Ferrero negated 53 winners with 50 unforced errors but still managed to prevail over Nieminen.
In a match that concluded after 1 am local time, Argentine qualifier Agustin Calleri posted a 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5) second-round upset of Safin, whose 27 unforced errors and numerous tantrums came back to haunt him.
Safin entered the match ranked third in the ATP Champions Race, just 85 points ahead of No. 10 Andy Roddick of the United States. With only the top seven assured of a spot in the year-end Tennis Masters Cup at Shanghai, this defeat may cost Safin his place.
Meanwhile, Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan maintained his stunning form, knocking off Kuerten, a wild card, 6-4, 6-4, in a first-round encounter. Srichaphan controlled the match with his serve, winning 87 percent of the points on his first serve.
The 23-year-old Bangkok resident captured his first career ATP title in August at Long Island and reached finals at Chennai and Washington.
In Tuesday's only other second-round contest, No. 7 Sebastien Grosjean of France owned a 5-1 lead against Xavier Malisse when the Belgian retired due to injury.
Also, American qualifier Jan-Michael Gambill posted a 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 win over Romania's Andrei Pavel.
The other first-round winners Tuesday were Spanish wild card Feliciano Lopez, Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic and Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti.
