Lights go out for Ferrero, Hewitt shines on

Juan Carlos Ferrero was hustled out of the Barcelona Open by Alberto Martin on Thursday, the defending champion and number three seed going down 6-2 6-3 to his fellow Spaniard on a floodlit centre-court.

"My serve was a disaster and I just didn't get my forehand going," said Ferrero. "He dominated with his serve and he was better than me."

With last year's runner-up Carlos Moya also limping out of the tournament, losing 6-4 6-2 to Gaston Gaudio of Argentina, Australian top seed Lleyton Hewitt emerged as a most serious candidate for the title.

The world number one, looking more and more at home on the clay surface, beat Argentina's David Nalbandian 6-2 6-4 to set up a quarter-final clash with Moroccan sixth seed Younes El Aynaoui, who encountered few problems in his 6-4 7-6 success against David Sanchez.

"That was much better," said Hewitt, who had been unhappy with his form in his second-round win over Marc Lopez.

"I've got a lot of respect for El Aynaoui. He's got a big game, a big serve and a huge forehand. I'll have to play at least as well as I did today to beat him."

Earlier in the week Hewitt had tipped Ferrero to retain his title and he was not alone in thinking the talented Spanish baseliner would sweep all before him once again.

Ferrero was never allowed to settle, though, and the 23-year-old Martin reeled off seven games from 3-2 up in the first set to move a set and 4-0 ahead.

Ferrero got a break back in the next and improved to 3-4 down but Martin held his next service game and broke once again for victory, the favourite swatting a forehand well wide on the first match point.

"Everything came off for me," said a delighted Martin. "I hadn't expected a result like this."

Martin, who won the Mallorca Open last year, will next take on Gaudio in a battle of the tournament's two giantkillers.

In other matches on Thursday, fifth seed Guillermo Canas moved smartly into the quarter-finals with a 6-2 6-4 victory over fellow Argentine Franco Squillari.

Canas will go on to face the Frenchman Cedric Pioline, who outlasted the Slovak Dominik Hrbaty 6-3 7-6.

Alex Corretja won the match of the day on centre court, the seventh-seeded Spaniard digging deep to beat Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador 5-7 6-3 6-2.

The local favourite turned the match around in game eight of the second set, converting his sixth break point after 10 deuces.

Corretja went on to square the match and Lapentti fell behind in the decider as the umpire gave him a time violation on break-point.

The reward for Corretja is a match against his great friend Albert Costa, the 1997 champion who overcame Italy's Stefano Galvani 7-5 7-6.