Tuesday, September 12 2006 12:26 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beijing: Sixth-seed Paradorn Srichaphan dispatches German Rainer Schuettler 6-3, 6-3 in the opening round of the China Open on Monday (11 Sep, 2006) as all seeded players breezed through the first day of matches.

The Thai breaks Schuettler in the eighth game of the second set and serves out the match for the win on the opening night of the third edition of the China Open, the nation's biggest tennis tournament.

Paradorn, ranked 45th in the world, has been a crowd favorite since he reached the semi-finals in the 2004 edition. Last year he made it only to the third round.

His strong groundstrokes keeps the 86th ranked German on his heels on the fast surface at the Beijing Tennis Center, where the sparse opening-night crowd cheers him on at every point.

In earlier matches, fifth seed Dominic Hrbaty dispatched South Africa's Rik De Voest 6-1, 6-0, while eighth seeded Lee Hyung-taik of South Korea beat Russian Igor Kunitsyn 6-3, 6-4.