TOKYO, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Top seed Lewitt Hewitt avoided the upset bug Wednesday at the rain-delayed Japan Open as three other seeds from the top 10 fell out of the tournament.
Hewitt, who received a bye in the first round, cruised into the third round with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over unseeded American Michael Chang. The world's top-ranked player and reigning Wimbledon champion, Hewitt is seeking his fifth title of the year and already has qualified for the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup in November.
Chang has claimed 34 career titles but is struggling through his worst year as his career winds down. He is just 7-18 on the ATP circuit in 2002 with one Challenger tournament win in Calabasas.
Spaniards Carlos Moya and Alex Corretja, the third and fourth seeds, were ousted in the second round, along with No. 7 Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador.
Germany's Alexander Waske defeated Moya, 6-4, 7-5; Slovakia's Karol Kucera bounced Corretja, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3); and Swedish qualifier Maguns Larsson dispatched Lapentti, 7-5, 6-2.
Due to Tuesday's rain, a number of players were forced to double up Wednesday. No. 14 Nicolas Massu of Chile and American Vincent Spadea won a pair of matches to reach the third round.
Argentina's Agustin Calleri, the 12th seed, toppled American Alex Kim, 6-4, 6-4, in the first round but fell to France's Jerome Golmard, 6-3, 6-2, in his second match of the day.
Also reaching the round of 16 was France's Anthony Dupuis, who survived a pair of tiebreakers to eliminate No. 13 seed Wayne Arthurs of Australia, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (8-6). Dupuis also was forced to win twice.
In other first-round matches, Denmark's Kenneth Carlsen downed Israel's Noam Okun, 6-4, 6-4; American Cecil Mamiit outlasted Brazil's Alexandre Simoni, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2; Spain's Feliciano Lopez dispatched Austria's Stefan Koubek, 6-4, 6-4; and German Michael Kohlmann downed American qualifier Doug Bohaboy, 6-1, 6-3.
On the women's side, No. 3 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain was the top player to advance, posting a 6-0, 6-2 first-round win over Russian qualifier Maria Kirilenko.
No. 4 Emmanuelle Gagliardi of Spain outlasted Russian wild card Maria Sharapova, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, and sixth-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia dispatched France's Virginie Razzano, 7-5, 6-2.
Also, No. 7 Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain advanced with a 6-0, 6-1 romp over Korean qualifier Jin-Hee Kim, and eighth seed Jelena Kostanic of Croatia toppled Japan's Saori Obata, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3).
Japan's Yuka Yoshida posted the first upset on the women's side, cruising past Zimbabwe's Cara Black, the fifth seed, 6-2, 6-1.
Japan's Ai Sugiyama is the top seed and Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn, who lost to Monica Seles in the final last year, is second. Both received byes.
