Johannesburg — IT WAS a bad day at the office for South African players as Izak van der Merwe and Wesley Moodie crashed out of the SA Tennis Open at Montecasino yesterday.

Moodie, ranked 10th, and doubles partner Kevin Ullyett (Zimbabwe) lost a close game 7-6 7-6 against Steve Darcis and Xavier Malisse of Belgium. Van der Merwe lost disappointingly to France's Stephane Robert 7-6 6-2.

Van der Merwe's serve proved successful early on as he held his serve all the way to the tiebreaker in the first set. Robert barely held on to his serve, saving a few breakpoints. But Robert came into his own in the tiebreaker, breaking Van der Merwe early on, only to have Van der Merwe break back.

Van der Merwe seemed to lose confidence in his serve as the pressure of the tie-break grew on him.

"I was unsettled at the tie-break and I lost my rhythm, which continued into the second set," he said. "Then he started passing me. I had most of the chances in the first set, I knew that I could break the guy, but I did not, which was very disappointing. I had a very bad serving game towards the end."

Van der Merwe's first serve collapsed in the second set after the loss of the tiebreaker affected his confidence. Robert attacked his second serve viciously, hitting brilliant passing shots at every opportunity.

"I was a little bit nervous in the first three games because I had a few break points," Robert said. "I had to hold on to my serves because I knew that I had no chance on his. But then I put a cross-court passing shot in the tie-break and I was very happy. My confidence grew after that shot."

Moodie and Ullyett also got stiff opposition from Darcis and Malisse, but the pair held firm on their serves and took the game all the way to tie- breaks, where they broke early and took the set 7-6.

Moodie and Ullyett came out of the second set determined and broke Darcis and Malisse to take a 1-0 lead. Moodie and Ullyett almost lost their serve advantage when Darcis and Malisse pushed them all the way to the deciding point.

But the southern Africans held their nerve and took a 2-0 lead.

At 3-2, Ullyett served a double fault and hit a long ball to let the Belgians back in the game, taking the score to 3-3 in the second set.

The duo then held their own serve and took a 4-3 lead, with the Africans to serve.

Both sides held on to their sets diligently until the tie-break, where the Belgians broke Moodie and Ullyett and raced to a 3-0 lead. The African pair held their next serves but Darcis and Malisse stayed consistent to serve out the match.