World number five David Ferrer pulverised Jesse Levine's serve-and-volley game to launch his campaign to defend his Japan Open tennis title on Wednesday.

It was a return to form for the top-seeded Spaniard, who was unceremoniously dumped in his first match in Beijing last week, scoring a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 victory over the 101st-ranked American in the second round.

"Every week is different. Today I played good. It was a very tough match. Levine has good power and I had to fight to beat him," said Ferrer.

"I feel good. I feel better than last week. It's important to in the first round (first match), because sometimes it is difficult to play. I'm happy with my game today," added Ferrer, who received a first-round bye.

After taking the first set, Ferrer hit a double fault to give Levine a 15-40 break chance, which he lost when he hit a forehand wide, and eventually it cost him the set.

But the American's serve-and-volley game collapsed in the second game of the final set as he hit a backhand volley long at a deuce before seeing Ferrer fire a sizzling forehand passing shot to jump ahead 2-0.

Everything went perfectly afterwards for Ferrer, who allowed Levine to hold only one game and finished off the 107-minute match by hitting his fifth ace on his first match point.

Meanwhile, the 2003 champion Rainer Schuettler of Germany, the 12th seed, and 14th seed Jurgen Melzer of Austria join Ferrer in the third round.

Schettler, who has yet to claim a title since winning at Tokyo and Lyon in October 2003, edged past Lee Hyung-Taik of South Korea 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, while Melzer whipped Simon Stadler of Germany 6-2, 6-3.

On the women's side, seventh seed Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand and Kaia Kanepi of Estonia became the first players to reach the quarterfinals.

The seventh-seeded Tamarine powered past Camille Pin of France 6-2, 6-2, while the fifth-seeded Kanepi shrugged off a slow start to beat Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 3-6, 6-1, 6-0.

AFP