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MADRID, Oct 18: Peru's Luis Horna beat Moroccan Hicham Arazi 6-4 7-5 on Monday to set up a second round encounter with defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero at the Madrid Masters.
Horna, calm and focused, broke Arazi's serve to take the first set and looked set for a quick win when he pulled ahead 5-2 in the second.
An inspired Arazi recovered to pull back to 5-5 but then collapsed in his next service game to hand the match to Horna.
"I'm not afraid but I am nervous," Horna said. "Ferrero is keen to improve his ranking and he is on his home ground so it is going to be a tough game."
Sweden's Robin Soderling will face fourth seed David Nalbandian after beating Germany's Florian Mayer 6-3 7-6 while American Robby Ginepri defeated Spain's Juan Luis Tati Rascon 6-1 6-4.
In another match, Belarus's Max Mirnyi outlasted Spain's David Sanchesin straight sets 6-3, 7-6 (7/3).
World number one Roger Federer opted out of the tournament because of fatigue and Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt are also absent, leaving Britain's Tim Henman as the top seed ahead of Andre Agassi and Marat Safin.
The 16 seeds have a bye through to the second round.
First round:
Alex Corretja (SPA) bt David Ferrer (SPA) 7-5, 6-1; Max Mirnyi (BLR) bt David Sanchez (SPA) 6-3, 7-6 (7/3); Stefan Koubek (AUT) bt Sjeng Schalken (NED) 6-4, 6-4; Luis Horna (PER) bt Hicham Arazi (MAR) 6-4, 7-5; Robin Soderling (SWE) bt Florian Mayer (GER) 6-3, 7-6 (7/2); Robbie Ginepri (USA) bt Juan Luis Tati Rascon (SPA) 6-1, 6-4.-AFP
