Tennis: Kuerten falls in Paris

Gustavo Kuerten slipped back into his recent losing habit as he bowed out of the Masters Series event in Paris.

The Brazilian lost 4-6 6-4 6-4 to Dutchman Sjeng Schalken.

Defending champion Marat Safin was another big-name casualty in the third round. He lost 6-4 6-4 to Sweden's Andreas Vinciguerra.

Kuerten, the top seed, won the first set by breaking Vinciguerra in the final game. But that was his last break point of the match and the Swede closed out the match after one hour and 45 minutes.

The triple French Open champion ended a five-match losing streak by winning his opening match in Paris earlier this week. He was seeking to extend his lead at the top of the ATP Champions Race, where he is closely followed by Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi.

Safin's defeat ended his already slim hopes of qualifying for the season-ending Masters Cup in Sydney, Australia.

Only Tommy Haas and Sebastien Grosjean can still take the last spot in the elite eight-man event, which starts on November 12.

Haas, seeded seventh, advanced to the quarter-finals in Paris by beating Xavier Malisse of Belgium 7-5 6-1.

Grosjean, seeded sixth, delighted the home audience by eliminating another Belgian, qualifier Christophe Rochus 6-0 3-6 6-0.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who secured the seventh spot in Sydney the day before and is seeded fourth here, beat Spaniard Albert Costa 6-3 6-4. Sweden's Thomas Johansson, seeded 15th, defeated Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador 6-3 6-3.