The British number two suffered a severe dip in form and failed to produce his match-winning serve when it mattered, leaving Bjorkman to coast into the last four.

Rusedski enjoyed a less than impressive opening to the match, having to defend a break point in his opening service game.

On that occasion his booming serve enabled him to scramble out of trouble. But he was unable to recover in game six, when he double-faulted on break point to trail 4-2.

With Bjorkman looking almost impregnable on his own service game, Rusedski could not launch a counter and the Swedish Davis Cup player served out to take the first set with a game to 15.

Rusedski's first-serve percentage was below 50 in the opening set and he clearly needed to improve if he was to hold any hope of making the semi-finals.

But disaster struck in the third game of the second set when Rusedski netted an easy volley to trail 2-1.

It quickly turned into a double break and when Rusedski spurned a break point of his own in the next game the Briton was 5-1 down and staring defeat in the face.

He saved two match points with a pair of aces in his next service game but it proved only to serve as a stay of execution.

The end came when Bjorkman struck home an easy volley to take the second set 6-2.

Pete Sampras is set to underline his position as the world's number one for the sixth consecutive year after easing through to the semi-finals, while number two Marcelo Rios was forced out by injury.

Sampras, who would be the first man to complete six successive seasons at the top, found his way past world number 50 Jan-Michael Gambill after the 21-year-old pulled out injured while trailing 4-1 in the first set.

Earlier, world number two Rios failed to take to the court against 10th seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

The Chilean, who has displaced Sampras at the top of the ATP Tour rankings twice this year, hurt a hip muscle while playing football with a tennis ball.