Berdych sees off Robredo challenge

Tomas Berdych became the first man through to the last 16 of the Shanghai Masters as he eased past Tommy Robredo in straight sets.

The seventh seed, who afterwards revealed he was suffering from an upset stomach, showed complete dominance as he romped through the first set before the Spaniard finally hit his stride in the second.

Robredo twice went a break up but could not press home his advantage as Berdych eventually won 6-0 6-4.

Of today’s first-round matches, the highlight was a three-set clash between Zhang Ze and Ivan Ljubicic.

Zhang, ranked 308th in the world, delighted the home crowd by pushing his Croatian opponent all the way in an entertaining encounter, but the 31-year-old fought back to win 5-7 6-3 6-4.

Tenth seed Andy Roddick was 6-3 2-1 up on Philipp Kohlschreiber when the German was forced to retire because of illness, while Spain’s David Ferrer, the 11th seed, was a straight-sets winner over Michael Llodra of France.

John Isner saved seven match points before finally seeing off Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot 4-6 7-6 (11/9) 7-6 (9/7). His reward is a second-round match against Roger Federer.

Elsewhere, there were wins for Janko Tipsarevic, Daniel Gimeno-Traver and China’s Yan Bai, who strolled to a 6-3 6-4 win over Radek Stepanek.