Hewitt escapes Halle upset bug

Hewitt, seeded eighth, breezed by Peter Luczak 6-2, 6-2 losing just nine points in his eight service games. Hewitt broke Luczak's serve four times and more than half -- 24-of-47 -- of the points when Luczak was serving.

No. 4-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero and seventh-seeded Marcos Baghdatis were both upset in straight sets in their first-round matches.

Dominik Meffert stopped Ferrero 6-3, 7-5, facing just one break point and turning the match with one service break in each set. Philipp Petzschner ousted Baghdatis 6-4, 6-3 in 69 minutes behind three breaks.

Other matches Monday saw Lukas Lacko top Jeremy Chardy 7-5, 7-6 (7-0); Viktor Troicki beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 7-6 (7-4); and Thiemo De Bakker get past Rohan Bopanna 6-4, 7-6 (13-11).

Roger Federer, who this week dropped to No. 2 in the world rankings, is the tournament top seed. Federer has won the event five times.

Copyright 2010 United Press International.