World number one Roger Federer [ Images ] and number two Rafael Nadal [ Images ] pulled out of the Hamburg Masters due to fatigue, organisers said on Monday.

Nadal, 19, beat the Swiss in Sunday's Rome Masters final in a match that lasted more than five hours to equal Guillermo Vilas's record of 53 straight wins on clay.

The Spaniard will have to wait until the French Open [ Images ], which begins at the end of the month, to make the 29-year-old mark his own.

Only five of the world's top 10 now remain in the tournament's weakest line-up in years. Argentina's David Nalbandian [ Images ], American Andy Roddick [ Images ] and Australia's [ Images ] Lleyton Hewitt [ Images ] had already withdrawn.

Last year's winner Federer and Nadal will travel to Hamburg for medical check-ups as tour rules dictate and will be replaced in the draw by Sweden's Robin Soederling and Lukas Dlouhy [ Images ] of the Czech Republic.

Croatia's [ Images ] Ivan Ljubicic, number five in the world, is now the highest ranked player in the tournament followed by Nikolay Davydenko [ Images ] of Russia [ Images ], the world number six.

In the day's first-round matches, Brazilian qualifier Flavio Saretta stunned 2000 Hamburg finalist Marat Safin [ Images ] 5-7, 6-0, 6-4, while American fifth seed James Blake [ Images ] scored a fine 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 win against former French Open champion Carlos Moya [ Images ].

Moya's Spanish compatriot and former Roland Garros [ Images ] champion Juan Carlos Ferrero [ Images ] defeated Belgian Olivier Rochus [ Images ] 7-6, 5-7, 6-3 while another Spaniard, eighth seed Tommy Robredo [ Images ], beat Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2.

French teenager Richard Gasquet lost 6-4, 6-2 to Kristof Vliegen of Belgium and another Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco [ Images ], knocked out Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.