INDIAN WELLS (California), March 13: A total of seven men’s seeds fell by the wayside at the Pacific Life Open on Wednesday but world number one Lleyton Hewitt made serene progress through to the third round stage.

The title holder from Australia cruised past twice former Grand Slam champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia 6-3 6-2 on a boiling hot day during which on-court temperatures reached 96 degrees.

Third seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain led the list of top casualties, losing 6-4 3-6 6-3 to American qualifier Brian Vahaly.

Triple French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten knocked out fourth-seeded Swiss Roger Federer 7-5 7-6 while Belgium’s Olivier Rochus upset number eight Albert Costa of Spain 5-7 6-4 6-4.

Argentina’s Agustin Calleri beat 13th seed Tim Henman of Britain 6-4 7-6, Guillermo Coria of Argentina crushed number 16 Alex Corretja of Spain 6-2 6-1 and Spaniard Tommy Robredo eliminated 14th seed Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands 5-7 6-2 6-0.

Ninth seed Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic became the 11th player in the tournament to fall victim to a stomach bug, withdrawing from his match against American Robby Ginepri.

Women’s fifth seed Amelie Mauresmo of France also pulled out with a throat infection before her quarterfinal with Lindsay Davenport.

Fourth seed Davenport will play Jennifer Capriati in the last four after the second seed eased past 18-year-old Russian Vera Zvonareva 7-5 6-2.

After saving three match points in his first-round win over Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui, Hewitt was relieved to get a routine victory over Kafelnikov.

“I went up a little bit today,” Hewitt told reporters.

“Kafelnikov is not quite the player he was when he won the French and Australian Opens,” added Hewitt, who will play Coria in the third round.

Kuerten dominated Federer with his backhand to score his first win over a top-five player this year.

The Swiss player arrived here as the hottest player on tour, having won 16 of his last 17 matches.

“I didn’t serve too well today,” Federer said. “That didn’t give me any free points.

“In the second set, I missed too many chances. It’s disappointing to lose because I could have won this match with no problem.”

Kuerten, who now faces Calleri, said: “This was my best result in a long time. Big points, good atmosphere, central court.

“It was a match where I could test myself in many different situations. I was lucky to get away with that great (second set) tiebreak, probably the best I played all year.”

Ferrero played a sloppy match against Vahaly, often sending his forehand flying way out of court and missing several easy opportunities.

Henman, who underwent shoulder surgery in November and had notched his first win of 2003 on Tuesday, was well below his best against Calleri.

“I couldn’t create any opportunities,” Henman said. “All credit to him because he was playing too well for me.”

Among the seeds to advance to the third round were number five Carlos Moya of Spain, Andy Roddick (six), Marat Safin (seven), Sebastien Grosjean (11) and Rainer Schuettler (15).

Wednesday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding, denotes new result):

MEN (Second round):