Safin, Philippoussis shocked

Russian second seed Marat Safin and Australia's comeback man Mark Philippoussis were surprisingly dumped out of the second round of the $400,000 Hong Kong Open on Thursday.

Safin lost to Swede Magnus Larsson, who outplayed the Russian from the baseline to win 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, while fifth seed Philippoussis went down 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-3 to Germany's Rainer Schuettler.

Larsson struck the crucial blow against Safin in the seventh game of the deciding set, breaking his opponent's much-vaunted serve to take a 4-3 lead.

The Swede, 111 in the world rankings, then saved two break-points while serving for the match to register a shock victory.

"I was a bit lucky in the third set to save the two break points. But I took my chances and I'm happy," said Larsson, who reached a career-high ranking of 10 back in 1995.

Safin said the loss would now make it difficult for him to break into the top eight in the world rankings and qualify for November's Tennis Masters Cup in Melbourne.

"I needed a good result here to boost my chances. Now it has got harder," said Safin, who won in Tashkent two weeks ago to move from 15 to 11 in the standings.

Philippoussis's comeback ended abruptly as Schuettler, winner of the Shanghai Open last week, continued his run of form to advance into the quarter-finals.

PRETTY HAPPY

"I'm pretty happy to win. He is the fifth seed and I'm unseeded here," said Schuettler, ranked 49th in the world.

"Whether he has played a hundred matches coming into this match or just one is immaterial. I'm pleased to beat him."

A disappointed Philippoussis, returning to action after a six-month layoff following surgery on his left knee, said a lack of match practice had taken its toll.

"It's all just a matter of match practice. I made a lot of unforced errors and felt a little stiff out there today," said Philippoussis, who looked more his old self in Wednesday's second round when he fired 20 aces past Israel's Harel Levy.

"But the most important thing is that my knee held up. I'm happy that it is 100 percent."

Third seed Sebastien Grosjean of France survived a mid-match slump to beat Chile's Nicolas Massu 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 6-4.

"I feel tired. This is only my second tournament since July and I knew it would be tough," said Grosjean, ranked number eight in the world after a summer spent sidelined with an ankle injury.