Kuerten crashes to shock defeat

Kuerten lost his serve three times in the second set

Click here for Wednesday's results

Gustavo Kuerten and Juan Carlos Ferrero, the top seeds in two of this week's tennis tournaments, have both been dumped out in the first round.

Kuerten was beaten in straight sets in the Swiss Indoor Open by France's Julien Boutter, while Ferrero was knocked out of the St Petersburg Open by unfancied German Rainer Schüttler.

It was the third time in as many tournaments that the Brazilian had lost his opening match.

Kuerten fought hard in the first set of his match, losing a tie-break 7-3, but he was thrashed in the second.

Ferrero said he was feeling unwell

Kuerten broke serve early in the second set to go 2-1 up. But Boutter won all the remaining games, breaking Kuerten three times, to win 6-2.

Ferrero, who said he had been feeling ill since arriving in Russia, was beaten 7-6 6-4 on Wednesday.

It was a first-round match for the Spaniard, who is ranked fifth in the world.

"I'm really sorry that I couldn't play so good, because I didn't feel good today or for the last two days," Ferrero said.

He said he had caught a cold in Spain just before travelling to St Petersburg for the tournament, "and the cold weather here didn't help me get better".

Schüttler took just over two hours to defeat Ferrero, who hung on to save three set points in the first set, before going down 10-8 in the tie break.

Easier for Safin

Schüttler said: "Maybe he was a little tired, but I really didn't care about his form. I beat him in Hong Kong three weeks ago, and now I have beaten him here again."

He will play Czech Daniel Vacek in the second round.

Ferrero has already qualified for the season-ending Masters Cup in Sydney next month, which pits the eight best players of the year against each other.

Third seed Marat Safin had a rather easier ride, taking a comfortable straight sets win over David Prinosil of Germany, 6-4 6-2.

I was in danger of losing the match

Andy Roddick

But fourth seed Tommy Haas of Germany was knocked out by Ukrainian Andrei Medvedev 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-4.

In another first-round game, Max Mirnyi beat Jiri Novak in straight sets, while in the second round Fabrice Santoro and Michael Lindra won their matches.

Meanwhile, Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, the fifth seed, is comfortably through to the third round thanks to a 7-6 (10-8) 7-5 win.

In the Swiss Indoors tournament, fourth seed Roger Federer beat Spain's Albert Costa 6-3 6-3.

Sixth seed Andy Roddick needed three sets to beat unseeded Stephane Huet of France 6-2 3-6 7-6 (7-5).

Another seed loses

Roddock said: "I won 7-6 in the third and won only by two points, I was in danger of losing the match.

"I was okay in the first set but just lost concentration in the second. A match can be easy if you stay on top of people from the start.

"But when I lost that second set I gave him new life. But you can't play great all the time."

In the Stockholm Open, the seventh seed Younes El Ayanaoui was dumped out of the tournament by Jarkko Nieminen of Finland.

But South African Wayne Ferreira, the eighth seed, is into the third round thanks to a closely fought, three-set win over Sweden's Vinciguerra, in which all sets went to tie-breaks.

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Wednesday's results:

St Petersburg Open

First round
Max Mirnyi (Bel) beat Jiri Novak (Czech Republic) 6-0 7-6 (7-5) Rainer Schuettler (Germany) beat 1-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) 7-6 (10-8) 6-4
3-Marat Safin (Rus) bt David Prinosil (Ger) 6-4 6-2.
Andrei Medvedev (Ukr) bt 4 - Tommy Haas (Ger) 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-4

Second round
6-Fabrice Santoro (France) beat Attila Savolt (Hungary) 7-5 1-6 6-3 Michael Llodra (France) beat Vladimir Voltchkov (Belarus) 7-6 (7-1) 6-2
5-Goran Ivanisevic (Cro) bt Felix Mantilla (Spa) 7-6 (10-8) 7-5

Swiss Indoors tournament

Julien Boutter (Fra) bt 1 - Gustavo Kuerten (Bra) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2
4 - Roger Federer (Swi) bt Albert Costa (Spa) 6-3 6-3
Andy Roddick (US) beat Stephane Huet (France) 6-2 3-6 7-6 (7-5)
Nenad Zimonjic (Yug) beat Fernando Vicente (Spa) 4-6 6-3 6-2
Bohdan Ulihrach (Cze) bt Nicolas Lapentti (Ecu) 6-4 3-6 6-3
Xavier Malisse (Bel) bt Leos Friedl (Cze) 6-3 6-7 (10) 6-2
George Bastl (Swi) bt Jan-Michael Gambill (USA) 6-4 withdrawn
Andrei Pavel (Rom) bt Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) 6-4 6-7 (5/7) 6-3.

Stockholm Open

First round:
Daniel Vacek (Cze) bt David Sanchez (Spa) 6-3 7-6 (8-6)
Cedric Pioline (Fra) bt Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) 6-3 6-4

Second Round:
Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) bt 7 - Younes El Aynaoui (Mor) 6-3 6-1
8 - Wayne Ferreira (SA) bt Andreas Vinciguerra (Swe) 6-7 (7-5) 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3)
4 - Guillermo Canas (Arg) bt Magnus Larsson (Swe) 6-2 6-3
5 - Thomas Enqvist (Swe) beat Michal Tabara (Cze) 7-5 6-3

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