Rios hammered in Germany

Safin after his victory agianst Rios

Defending champion Marcelo Rios is out of the Hamburg Masters Series after being beaten in the semi final by Russian Marat Safin.

The Chilean was beaten 7-6 6-2 by 12th seed Safin, who now reaches his third final inside a month.

He will face Gustavo Kuerten after he beat Romanian qualifier Andrei Pavel 6-3 6-3.

Rios was disappointing against Safin, who has picked up wins in recent weeks in Barcelona and Mallorca, despite starting off as if he had a train to catch for an urgent appointment.

The Chilean, coming back to the boil after a succession of injuries, tore into a 3-0 lead with two breaks of the Safin serve inside the opening eight minutes.

Kuerten is first Brazilian in the final

And then he suddenly 'disappeared' as Safin hauled his way back, levelling for 3-3.

Safin then won his serve to love to force the tiebreak and won it 10-8, taking the first set after 55 minutes.

In the second Rios wilted as this time the roles were reversed with Safin going 3-0 ahead. At 4-2 Rios lost his last chance when he squandered a break point and Safin steamed on to win comfortably.

He now faces Brazilian fifth seed Gustavo Kuerten who beat Romanian qualifier Andrei Pavel 6-3 6-3.

Kuerten, who ended the hopes of Champions Race leader Magnus Norman of Sweden in the quarter-finals, won in 1hr 07min to become the first Brazilian to make the final here having previously suffered two quarter-final exits.

After his win Safin said: "I'm really happy with my performance.

"But I only started thinking after I lost the first three games.

"Then I started taking my time and got into the match. I hope I can repeat it tomorrow."

Safin has won 17 matches in 18 and is into his second Masters Series final after last year's Paris Indoor, where he lost to Andre Agassi.