Safin sent packing by Bjorkman in Auckland

Top-seeded Russian Marat Safin was knocked out of the Heineken Open by Jonas Bjorkman on Thursday when the Swede rallied for a 3-6, 6-3 ,3-6 second-round victory.

In a match halted twice by rain on Wednesday, Safin looked out of sorts in the first set when it resumed at 3-1 to Bjorkman and was unable to fight his way back into the set, going down 3-6.

The former U.S. Open winner recovered to break the Swede in his first service game in the second set, and held on to even the match.

However, the Russian saw the contest slip from his grasp when he was broken in the eighth game of the deciding set.

Bjorkman wasted ten break points in the final set before he broke through to beat Safin for the first time in five attempts.

The Swede now goes on to play Jerome Golmard of France in the quarter-finals.

In another match, Spain's Felix Mantilla beat fourth seed Sjeng Schalken 6-4, 6-4 to set up a quarter-final with Czech player Jiri Novak.