Hamburg, May 17:

Fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko beat Andreas Seppi 6-1, 6-2 on Wednesday to reach the third round of the Hamburg Masters.

Davydenko had a slow start to the European claycourt tour, losing in the first rounds of Valencia, Monte Carlo and Barcelona, but reached the final in Estoril where he lost to David Nalbandian, and the third round in Rome before retiring against Nicolas Almagro.

Eighth-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain beat France’s Florent Serra 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, while Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen defeated Christophe Rochus of Belgium 6-1, 6-0. Radek Stepanek, seeded 15th, beat German wild card Bjorn Phau 6-4, 6-3.