But Belgium's Xavier Malisse was forced to pull out of the eight-man round-robin tournament after retiring with a leg injury against Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean .

BBC: Safin, Ferrero ease through

He has failed to win a tournament since May, but went into the round-robin opener as favorite against an opponent making his first opponent in the finals.

CNN: Swede Soderling brushes aside Nadal

The three officials all accredited with FIFA, soccer's global administrator were in Singapore to referee the April 3 match, which was part of early round robin play in the Asian Football Confederation's second-tier club tournament, the AFC Cup.

WSJ: Singaporeans Allege International Dimension in Match-Fixing Scandal

There was huge criticism of the protracted 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean where group stages were followed by a round-robin Super Eight phase before the two semi-finals, and the tournament comprised 51 matches in total.

BBC: Cricket World Cup: Andrew Strauss wants shorter event

The tournament format sees the eight teams split into two groups of four for a round-robin stage, before the top two teams from each group progress to knock-out semi-finals and then the final on June 28.

CNN: What is the Confederations Cup?