Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan has suffered another early exit, this time from the US$2.4 million Rome Masters, making it his fourth defeat in a row on clay courts for the world ranked No 36 Thai.

Paradorn, who on the previous night partnered Frenchman Sebastian Grosjean to victory over Australian Stephen Huss and Cyrill Suk from the Czech Republic in the first round of the men's doubles, lost 6-1 6-3 to the Czech Republic's Tomas Berdych yesterday.

Berdych's victory improved his win-loss against the Thai to 2-1. Paradorn beat Berdych at the French Open two years ago, but the Czech avenged his loss last year at Marseille.

Paradorn's first three losses on clay included against Germany's Simon Gilles at the Nasdaq-100 in Miami on March 23 and Frenchman Flrent Serra at the Barcelona Open on April 18.

Meanwhile, Guillermo Coria's troubles continued yesterday with a 6-3 6-2 first-round loss to Spain's Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo.

Last year's runner-up, Coria also lost in the first round last week in Munich to Germany's Denis Gremelmayr.

The 93rd-ranked Ramirez Hidalgo also beat Coria in their last meeting in Buenos Aires earlier this year.

Coria lost last year's Rome final to Rafael Nadal in a match lasting more than five hours, but dropped to 8-8 this season.

In other early matches, 14th-seeded Radek Stepanek improved to a career record of 6-0 against Spain's Feliciano Lopez with a 6-4 6-4 win and Tim Henman eliminated Italian wild card Alessio Di Mauro 7-5 7-6 (2).

Henman's ranking has dropped to a 10-year low 70th.

The 31-year-old serve-and-volley specialist had to fend off three break and set points at 4-5 in the first set. He saved his best tennis for the tiebreak, though, jumping out to a 4-0 lead before closing out the match. "It was a very even match. Unfortunately, I wasted a lot of opportunities," Di Mauro said.

Roger Federer is prepared to leave no stone unturned in his latest campaign to topple the king of clay, Rafael Nadal.

Clay fazes Federer less than Nadal, the only player to beat him more than once since he became world No 1 in February, 2004. Nadal has also handed Federer his only two losses this year, and the Spanish left-hander presents the biggest obstacle to Federer at this month's French Open, the only Grand Slam he hasn't won. Nadal is the reigning French Open champ, as he is in Rome.

Chastened by an easy defeat to Nadal two weeks ago in the Monte Carlo final, Federer arrived early for this week's Rome Masters, and met a week earlier than planned with part-time coach Tony Roche, the Aussie lefty who won the Italian and French titles 40 years ago.

Their work received encouragement on Monday when Federer was aggressive in dispatching Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela 6-2 6-1.

"I guess I had to. Chela plays so far back in the court that he gives me more time," Federer said. "I think we all have still the match in mind with Nadal where obviously it's more difficult to attack."

With all of the world's top 10 entered, three didn't last the first day at the Foro Italico; No 4 Ivan Lju-bicic was upset by Slovakia's Domi-nik Hrbaty 5-7 7-6 (4) 6-4, No 7 James Blake was beaten 6-4 7-6 (3) by France's Florent Serra, and No 10 Tommy Robredo fell to Britain's Greg Rusedski 5-7 6-3 6-4.

Federer, a Rome finalist in 2003, missed the tournament last year because of a foot injury. He'll play Italy's Potito Starace next, with 14th-seeded Radek Stepanek a possibility in the third round.

Despite a week together, Federer said he and Roche had not had a thorough discussion yet of his latest loss to Nadal.

"Only two minutes," he said. "But I know the day will come where we speak about it. Thank God I have a lefty coach, so at least I get to see a lefty sort of spin sometimes," Federer said of Roche.

The Nation, Agencies

ROME