Leading Australian Open seeds Pete Sampras and Greg Rusedski both suffered shock defeats in Melbourne, ahead of next week's Grand Slam event.

In the swirling winds of the Kooyong Classic, British number one Rusedski lost 7-5 6-4 to Australian Mark Philippoussis while Sampras went down to French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten 3-6 6-3 6-4.

The beaten duo will now play each other on Thursday, the second day of the exhibition tournament that has become the traditional warm-up event to the Open.

Rusedski, seeded fifth for the Open, was relaxed about his defeat to 15th seed Philippoussis and said: "It was ideal practice for the Australian Open. The courts are the same and the balls are virtually the same.

"It was difficult for both of us to serve at pace in the windy conditions and I am not at all disappointed."

Top Open seed Sampras was also relaxed about his defeat and said: "It was not meant for playing tennis out there, it was more for flying a kite. It was impossible to play, the wind was so strong."

But Kuerten, who has risen to 14th in the world since his surprise French Open win last June, was overjoyed with his win in his first meeting with Sampras.

"It always gives me a bit of confidence and a good feeling to get a win like that. He is a tough player to beat, even in practice," said the Brazilian, seeded 12 for the Open.

Former Wimbledon champion, André Agassi, had earlier scored an impressive 6-4 6-0 win over Austrian Thomas Muster, while left-handed Croatian Goran Ivanisevic beat Ukraine's Andrei Medvedev 7-6 6-3.

Medvedev stepped into the tournament after defending champion and world number three, Michael Chang, pulled out with a strained stomach muscle.

The tournament is being played in two groups of four with the top player from each group going into Saturday's final.
 

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