Top seeds fall in Hong Kong

Safin struggles to return against Larsson

The second and fifth seeds Marat Safin and Mark Philippoussis have both been dumped out of the Hong Kong Open.

Safin was undone by Sweden's Magnus Larsson in three battling sets, 2-6 6-3 4-6.

And Philippoussis was unable to claim his second victory of the week following his comeback after knee surgery.

The Australian lost to in-form German Rainer Schüttler 6-7 (5/7) 6-4 3-6, but despite the defeat, he said his fitness was his top priority.

He may not have played his best game, but I'm sure he was fit

Rainer Schüttler on Mark Philippoussis

"I'm taking it one match at a time," Philippoussis said.

"I'm just happy to be back playing. The most important thing for me is trying to get healthy, that's the only thing I'm worried about.

"I'm just looking at my knee."

Schüttler, who recently won the Heineken Open in Shanghai, dismissed talk of his opponent having struggled with his injured knee.

"If he wasn't fit, he wouldn't be playing a tournament," he said.

"He may not have played his best game, but I'm sure he was fit.

"I have my own job to do out there on court, he doesn't matter to me."

In other games, Brazil's Andre Sa beat Switzerland's Michel Kratochvil 7-5 6-4, while third seed Sebastien Grosjean overcame Chile's Nicolas Massu 7-6 (7/2) 3-6 6-4.