Agassi stumbles in Stuttgart

Pete Sampras looked in top form in Stuttgart

Click here for Wednesday's results

Andre Agassi missed a chance to reclaim the world number one spot when he was upset by Hicham Arazi in the second round Stuttgart Masters.

The Moroccan left hander, beat the second-seed 7-6 (7/4) 7-5.

Agassi could have regained the top spot if he won the tournament after Gustavo Kuerten's exit on Tuesday.

But Agassi, who committed 36 unforced errors, could not find his normal fluency.

His defeat means US Open champion Lleyton Hewitt, currently the world number three, can take over from Kuerten if he wins the event.

Pete Sampras made an impressive start to his campaign with a 6-3 7-6 win over Austria's Stefan Koubek.

The American was making his first appearance since losing to Hewitt in the US Open final five weeks ago.

A good performance in Stuttgart is vital for his chances of making next month's Masters Cup in Sydney, which is open to the top eight players in the Champions Race.

Sampras is currently tied with Sebastien Grosjean in seventh position.

Roddick survived 23 aces against Boutter

"I probably wouldn't be here if I'd made Sydney by now," he said. "But I want to make it, I want to play against the best players in the world," he said.

Sampras had little difficulty in seeing off Koubek, although he was incensed by a line call at 4-4 in the tie-break and threw his racket to the ground before arguing with the umpire.

He eventually lost the point but took the next three to set up a meeting with either Marat Safin or Marcelo Rios in the last 32.

Fellow American Andy Roddick was given a tough test by Frenchman Julien Boutter, who beat Britain's Greg Rusedski in the previous round.

Haas had some tricky moments against Schalken

Roddick was pushed all the way in both sets but came through 7-6 7-6, and will face either Juan Carlos Ferrero or Thomas Enqvist next.

In other second round matches, Germany's Tommy Haas was in danger of an early exit against Dutchman Schalken when he entered a second-set tie-break after dropping the opening set.

But Haas regained the form that won him his fourth career title in Vienna last week, sweeping through the tie-break 7-2 and going on to clinch the match 4-6 7-6 6-2.

Grosjean maintained his challenge for a place at the end-of-season showdown in Sydney with a comfortable 6-3 6-4 win over Spain's Albert Costa.

In-form Guillermo Canas of Argentina had a hard-fought 6-3 3-6 7-5 win over 16th seed Thomas Johansson of Sweden.

Alex Corretja, Arnaud Clement and Juan Carlos Ferrero were other seeds to fall, both going out after leading their second round matches.

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Results from Wednesday's action in the Stuttgart Masters Series:

Andy Roddick [14] (USA) bt Julien Boutter (Fra) 7-6 7-6
Yevgeny Kafelnikov [5] (Rus) bt Andrei Pavel (Rom) 4-6 7-6 6-3
Nicolas Lapentti (Ecu) bt Arnaud Clement [12] (Fra) 4-6 6-2 7-5
Pete Sampras [9] (USA) bt Stefan Koubek (Aut) 6-3 7-6
Jiri Novak (Cze) bt Alex Corretja [10] (Spa) 3-6 6-2 6-4
Sebastien Grosjean [8] (Fra) bt Albert Costa (Spa) 6-4 6-4
Tommy Haas [15] (Ger) bt Sjeng Schalken (Ned) 4-6 7-6 (7/2) 6-2
Guillermo Canas (Arg) bt Thomas Johansson [16] (Swe) 6-3 3-6 7-5
Hicham Arazi (Mar) bt (2) Andre Agassi (USA) 7-6 (7/4) 7-5
Thomas Enqvist (Swe) bt (4) Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa) 4-6 6-3 7-6 (7/4)