The first round of the Heineken Open was the final stop for two Spanish stars. Rafael Nadal retired from today's first-round match against defending champion Dominik Hrbaty while suffering chest pains. Former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero followed his Davis Cup teammate out of the event in succumbing to Czech qualifier Jan Hernych, 6-7(1), 6-1, 6-3 at the Auckland tournament.

The third-seeded Hrbaty held a 6-3 lead when Nadal retired. The match was a rematch of the 2004 final, which Hrbaty won, 6-4, 2-6, 5-7. The 18-year-old Spaniard said he felt chest pains early in the match and decided to stop playing because "I was scared."

"I thought to stop was better," Nadal said.

Hrbaty, who is coming off a Hopman Cup victory with partner Daniela Hantuchova, meets Argentina's Jose Acasuso in the second round.

The seventh-seeded Ferrero survived set points to take the first set in a tiebreak, but managed to win just four of the next 16 games in falling to the 78th-ranked Hernych in their first career meeting.

"I think it has given me some confidence because he's a great player," said Hernych, who scored three consecutive qualifying victories to reach the main draw. "The whole match I played very good."

The 2003 Roland Garros champion, who switched from the Prince frame he has used throughout much of his professional career to a new HEAD racquet in the fall, never looked completely comfortable on the court.

"I didn't play my best tennis," Ferrero said. "But he played good tennis, with my help sometimes."

It was the first match of the year for Ferrero, who endured an injury-plagued 2004 season. Ferrero has won nine of his last 21 matches in falling to No. 32 in the rankings and could drop further if he fails to defend the ranking points he earned in reaching the 2004 Australian Open final four.

Top-seeded Guillermo Coria crushed 1999 champion Sjeng Schalken, 6-0, 6-3 to set up a second-round meeting with Cyril Saulnier. The Frenchman defeated Gilles Muller, 6-4, 6-4.

"I am very happy about the level of my play today, especially if you think of the troubles I've had lately and recovering from difficult surgery," said Coria, who broke Schalken's serve four consecutive times to open the match.

American Robby Ginepri beat Agustin Calleri, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, to set up a second-round showdown with compatriot Vince Spadea.

On another note:

Between matches on Tuesday afternoon, 15 ATP players went through the crowd with buckets to collect donations from the crowd Heineken Open in Auckland to collect money for UNICEF's tsunami relief efforts.

The effort at the sold out ASB Tennis Centre raised NZD $11,446.55, and the New Zealand government will match that to bring the total amount raised for UNICEF to $22,893.

Players participating in the collection were defending champion Dominik Hrbaty, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Rafael Nadal, Juan Ignacio Chela, Mariano Zabaleta, Potito Starace, Jim Thomas, Michael Kohlmann, Yves Allegro, Jeff Coetzee, Robbie Koenig, Sebastian Prieto, Pavel Vizner and Cyril Suk.