Martin, Philippoussis advance in AAPT

ADELAIDE, Australia, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Todd Martin avoided a letdown on Thursday as he advanced to the quarterfinals of the $357,000

AAPT Championships.

The unseeded Martin defeated Michael Llodra of France, 7-5, 6-4, in the second round of the hardcourt tennis event.

Martin knocked off second seed and fellow American Pete Sampras in the opening round of Wednesday, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. He snapped a 13-match losing streak to Sampras at the 2001 Australian Open.

With Thursday's victory, Martin improved to 4-17 in his career against his good friend.

Mark Philippoussis of Australia, who is coming back from offseason knee surgery, eliminated No. 5 Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands, 6-0, 6-3, in their second-round encounter.

Martin and Philippoussis will square off in the quarterfinals on Friday.

In addition, fourth seed Hicham Arazi of Morocco overcame Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2, and Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia got past Chilean Nicolas Massu, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5.

Arazi will face Ljubicic in the last eight.

In Friday's other quarterfinals, top seed Tim Henman will battle British Davis Cup colleague and sixth seed Greg Rusedski, and No. 3 Thomas Enqvist of Sweden will take on Alberto Martin of Spain.