Unknown into Sydney final

Lee brushed past Ferreira in straight sets

Friday's ATP round-up

Latest results

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Sydney International

South Korean qualifier Hyung-Taik Lee pulled off a major shock with a 6-3 6-3 victory over experienced South African Wayne Ferreira to reach the final.

Lee, the son of a potato farmer, came through three qualifying matches just to reach the tournament.

Ferreira was overpowered by Lee

"Did I expect this? Of course not," Lee told reporters through a translator.

"I just wanted to win one match. This is the biggest achievement for me so far."

The 27-year-old will meet world number four and French Open runner-up Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final.

The Spaniard recovered from losing an early break and dropping the opening set to beat German Rainer Schuettler 3-6 6-3 6-2 in the semi-finals.

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Auckland Open

Gustavo Kuerten shrugged off a number of rain delays to beat American Michael Russell 4-6 6-4 6-2 in second round.

The fourth-seeded Brazilian meets Argentina's Guillermo Coria, the number seven seed, in an all-South American quarter-final on Saturday.

Kuerten finished off Russell indoors

The match was delayed on Thursday with the score tied at one set all before nine points were possible on Friday morning's resumption.

With the rain unceasing, Kuerten took a 3-0 final-set lead indoors before easing to the win.

Meanwhile, Austrian Stefan Koubek beat Dutchman Raemon Sluiter 6-3 3-6 6-1 to set up a last-eight match with Argentine Mariano Zabaleta.

In the other quarter-finals, top-seeded Czech Jiri Novak faces Felix Mantilla of Spain and Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia faces Spaniard David Ferrer.

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Kooyong Classic

Sebastien Grosjean continued his preparations for the Australian Open in style with a 6-3 6-7 6-2 victory against Australian Mark Philippoussis.

The Frenchman was typically aggressive from the outset of the contest, mixing great court coverage with some intelligent lobs as Philippoussis tried to take control at the net.

Grosjean eased to a relatively comfortable first-set lead before Philippoussis steadied his game with a string of impressive serves in the second set, which the Australian narrowly won 8-6.

But complacency crept in to his game in the deciding set as he lost his opening service game and rarely looked like recovering.

Grosjean now faces America's Andre Agassi in the final.

Thursday's ATP round-up

Afterwards the Frenchman unveiled the key to his success.

He said: "I saw Mark up there and lobbed. It helped me a lot today.

"It was a good match, this is the perfect preparation for the Grand Slam. You always have to fight against Mark."

Philippoussis, meanwhile, insisted he was still confident of his Australian Open chances despite the defeat.