Former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain plucked out a fightback to beat South Korean Lee Hyung-Taik at the first round of the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing on Monday.

The sixth seed's opener proved a hard work as he sweated out a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 full-set win to reach the second round.

Ferrero, without a single title this year, paid the penalty for failing to take his triple break opportunity in the opening game.

The 2003 French Open champion surrendered first set 6-4 after his unforced errors gave the unseeded South Korean three set points in the key 10th game when he trailed 5-4.

Fortunately, he recovered to win the remaining two sets, avoiding a second successive first-round exit after the just concluded US Open, where he was sent packing by Frenchman Arnaud Clement in his opener.

His run in Beijing, however, is going to get much tougher since he is expected to meet David Nalbandian of Argentina in the quarterfinals, given he could make it.

Lee Hyung-Taik

He and Lee had met three times with Ferrero leading 2-1. The only loss for Ferrero was the final on Sydney's hard court in 2003where he surrendered 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4).

But the clay specialist had to battle five sets to outlive his persistent opponent 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3 and 6-3 in their latest meeting in Wimbledon's third round.

Earlier in the evening, fellow Spaniard Carlos Moya, seeded eighth, survived a breathtaking first set to win 7-6 (6) and 6-3 over Asian sensation Paradorn Srichapan of Thailand.

(Xinhua News Agency September 13, 2005)