Nalbandian, Blake out at French Open

PARIS, May 29 (UPI) -- David Nalbandian and James Blake, two of the top seven men's players in the French Open, were ousted Thursday in second-round matches.

World No. 1 Roger Federer and three-time defending champion and second-seeded Rafael Nadal got through rain delays en route to second-round wins. Federer dropped the first set before taking out Albert Montanes 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-0, 6-4 and Nadal was very sharp in a 6-4, 6-0, 6-1 romp over Nicolas Devilder.

Also taking straight-sets wins were No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko, who stopped Marat Safin 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, 6-2; and No. 5 David Ferrer, who wiped out Fabrice Santoro 6-0, 6-1, 6-0.

Nalbandian, seeded sixth, won the first two sets but sank quickly in losing to 145th-ranked Jeremy Chardy 3-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2. Blake, who has failed to get past the second round in five of his six French Opens, lost to 19-year-old Ernests Gulbis 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

A lesser upset saw Robby Ginepri topple 27th-seeded Igor Andreev 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.

Also Thursday, No. 9-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka topped Marin Cilic 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4), 6-1; 12th-seeded Tommy Robredo stopped Marc Gicquel 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4; and 15th-seeded Mikhail Youzhny looked solid in a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win over Maximo Gonzalez.

Other seeded winners Thursday were: No. 21 Radek Stepanek; No. 22 Fernando Verdasco, No. 24 Fernando Gonzalez, No. 25 Lleyton Hewitt, No. 26 Jarkko Nieminen, No. 28 Ivan Ljubicic and No. 30 Dmitry Tursunov.