BEIJING, Sept 15: Second seed Juan Carlos Ferrero and Asian favourite Paradorn Srichaphan moved into the second round of the rain-hit US$500,000 China Open with easy victories on Wednesday.

Ferrero, still struggling for fitness after a disappointing season, overcame four double-faults in one game and three brief rain breaks to see off 256th-ranked American Justin Gimelstob 6-4, 6-1.

Two forehand errors from the American sealed the match for Ferrero as he bids for his second Asian title after winning in Hong Kong's Salem Open in 2002. The Spaniard, last year's US Open finalist who fell in the second round this time around, spent an hour in the treatment room after his win.

Meanwhile Paradorn, Asia's top-ranked player and the sixth seed here, won the last three games of the second set as he rallied from 3-5 down to beat Frenchman Jean-Rene Lisnard 6-4, 7-5.

Eighth-seeded Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty was untroubled by mismatched Chinese competitor Yu Wang, winning 6-2, 6-2, while Italian veteran Davide Sanguinetti needed three sets to beat Australian qualifier Nathan Healey 5-7, 7-5, 6-2. The rain, which returned on Wednesday evening after a day of downpours on Tuesday, left five opening-round matches still unplayed.

RESULTS