Seeded players David Ferrer and Lleyton Hewitt were both straight-set losers Tuesday in first-round play of the $947,750 Malaysian Open tennis tournament. Ferrer, seeded seventh, was ousted by Mikhail Youzhny 7-6 (7-3), 6-2.

David Ferrer and Juan Carlos Ferrero cruised to wins over Israeli players Friday, boosting Spain within one victory of the Davis Cup finals. Ferrer needed less than two hours in topping Harel Levy 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 and Ferrero was even more impressive in a 6-4, 6-2, 6-0 rout of Dudi Sela in putting Spain up 2-0 in the best-of-five Davis Cup series in Murcia, Spain. A win in Saturday's doubles match -- in which Spain's Feliciano Lopez and Tommy Robredo are to play Israelis Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram -- or either of Sunday's reverse singles matches would put Spain in the Davis Cup finals for the seventh time overall and fourth time in seven years. Spain won the Davis Cup title last year.

David Ferrer will lead off for defending champion Spain in a Davis Cup semifinal against Israel this weekend on a red clay court in Murcia, Spain. Ferrer, ranked 19th in the world, goes against Israel's Harel Levy, who is ranked 140th, in the first match Friday in the best-of-five series in Murcia. World No.

Top-ranked Roger Federer defeated Simon Gruel Wednesday and led a charge of seeded players who advanced Wednesday at the U.S. Open. There were nine seeds in action in the men's draw Wednesday and all of them won, including No. 3 Rafael Nadal and No.

Nikolay Davydenko and David Ferrer, the top two seeds, won their first-round matches Wednesday at the Croatia Open in Umag. The top-seeded Davydenko easily beat Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-2, 6-2.