HAMBURG, Germany, May 17 (UPI) -- Lleyton Hewitt and Gustavo Kuerten, the top two seeds, were eliminated Friday at the $2.33 million Tennis Masters Series -- Hamburg.
Russia's Marat Safin, the sixth seed, needed just 56 minutes to ease past Hewitt, the No. 1 seed, posting a 6-3, 6-1 victory in a quarterfinal clash between the last two U.S. Open champions.
Meanwhile, No. 11 Roger Federer of Switzerland prevailed over No. 2 Kuerten, 6-0, 1-6, 6-2, at the claycourt tournament.
Safin, the runner-up to Kuerten in 2000, will meet Tommy Robredo in Saturday's semifinals. The Spaniard rallied past Austria's Stefan Koubek, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 6-1.
Federer will face Belarus' Max Mirnyi, who outlasted French qualifier Julien Boutter, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-3.
Finishing 2001 atop the ATP rankings, Hewitt successfully navigated the early rounds at the Rothenbaum, but the Australian finally succumbed on perhaps his weakest surface.
The 21-year-old never has advanced past the quarterfinals at the French Open, the Grand Slam claycourt event which begins May 27.
Despite having won just one of his 14 career titles on clay, Hewitt managed to become the first top seed to earn a quarterfinal berth since Andre Agassi accomplished the feat in 1995. The top seed has won the Hamburg title just three times since 1980. Ivan Lendl triumphed in 1987 and 1989, and Stefan Edberg lifted the trophy in 1992.
The runner-up at the Australian Open, Safin still is looking for his first title in 2002. The 22-year-old reached the quarterfinals at Miami and Monte Carlo.
Kuerten, a two-time Hamburg winner, failed to reach the semifinals here for the fifth time in six years. The Brazilian also was a quarterfinalist in 1998 and 1999.
Federer reached the final four of a Tennis Masters Series claycourt event for just the first time. He was a quarterfinalist at Monte Carlo in 2001.
Robredo, 20, had won just four of his 14 matches this year before reaching the quarterfinals at Rome last week.
Mirnyi, 24, will be playing his second semifinal of the year. He made the final four at Sydney in January.
