Kuerten and Hewitt ousted in Hamburg

World number one Lleyton Hewitt was blasted off court by Russian Marat Safin on Friday and Roger Federer sent second seed Gustavo Kuerten packing on a day of quarter-final upsets at the Hamburg Masters.

Safin, himself a former world number one, left top seed Hewitt shell-shocked on Rothenbaum's centre court with some brutal hitting in his 6-3, 6-1 victory while Federer stormed into the semifinals 6-0, 1-6, 6-2.

Hewitt's counter-punching style proved ineffectual against the sheer power of Safin's shots.

The Russian's clubbed backhand and forehand repeatedly flew for winners as Hewitt struggled to compete in the early evening encounter. A break in the eighth game of the opening set was enough for Safin to clinch it and he then streaked into a 4-0 lead in the second set.

Hewitt held for 4-1 but just minutes later he double-faulted on the fourth match-point he faced to hand victory to Safin.

"I felt great all the way through," the Russian sixth seed said afterwards. "I was really enjoying it."

ASTOUNDING STROKEPLAY

Safin will next face either Tommy Robredo or Stefan Koubek who meet later on Friday.

Earlier, 11th seed Federer had produced some astounding strokeplay to outgun Kuerten in their see-saw match.

Federer, a first round loser here on his previous visits in 2000 and 2001, now faces Max Mirnyi for a place in Sunday's final of the $2.8 million claycourt event.

Mirnyi beat France's Julien Boutter 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 in an unseeded clash.

"It's great for your confidence to get a 6-0 set against him on clay," Federer said.

"I was playing well and am happy with my form. I am just looking forward to my semifinal now."

The Swiss started in spectacular fashion, tearing through the first set in only 20 minutes, dismantling Kuerten's game with some ferocious groundstrokes.

Forced to take more and more risks, the errors mounted for Kuerten, with 17 in total in the first set.

Champion here in 2000, Kuerten looked increasingly lost on the Rothenbaum centre court he had once mastered.

High-risk forays into the net in a bid to break Federer's rhythm resulted in volley errors but finally Kuerten got on the scoreboard when a rifled forehand drew a mistake from the Swiss in the second set.

DUG DEEP

Burying his head in his towel at changeovers, the three-times French Open champion drew on all his experience to haul himself back into the match.

The Brazilian clawed his way back from 40-love down on Federer's serve to deuce. The Swiss faltered and Kuerten broke on his fourth break point with a drop-shot half-volley.

Boosted by his breakthrough, Kuerten's serve suddenly clicked and he held to love for a 3-0 lead.

A change of shirt at the changeover from brilliant white to muted grey seemed to reflect Federer's fortunes and he was broken again when Kuerten drilled a backhand at his body for 5-1.

The Brazilian won the next four points to take the set 6-1 and force a decider.

Federer stopped the rot with a solid service game to edge ahead in the set and moved to 2-0 when he whipped a backhand past Kuerten on his fourth break point in the following game.

He could not consolidate the break, however, allowing Kuerten to break him straight back with some sloppy serving.

The Brazilian held to level matters again as the balance of the match swung one way then the other.

In the sixth game Kuerten sent a backhand sailing long to hand Federer a 4-2 lead which he seized upon.

He served out for a 5-2 lead before clinching victory on his second match point with a hoisted top-spin lob.

"There wasn't much I could do," Kuerten said. "It was the first time I played him and he worked out what to do better than I did."