Tennis-Stuttgart Masters: Kafelnikov, Ferreira, Hewitt go through

One day after the ouster of the four top-seeded players, Kafelnikov looked in danger himself after wasting a 2-0 lead and losing the first set. But the six-seeded Russian, who won the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics, bounced back to oust Schalken, a Dutchman who had lost in the qualifying round but made the draw when Cedric Pioline withdrew of with an injury.

Kafelnikov said the key to his victory was patience. "I kept my momentum going, I was waiting for the right moment to attack," Kafelnikov said. "I think I did it successfully the last two sets."

Kafelnikov, who won the 1996 French Open and the 1999 Australian Open, is coming off his fourth consecutive Kremlin Cup title in Moscow. A former No. 1, Kafelnikov is now one match victory away from gaining a place in the season-ending Masters Cup later this month in Lisbon, Portugal.

But the Russian said he was more concerned with finally winning a Masters Series title, one of the few achievements missing in his career. The nine Master Series events are the most lucrative and the most important after the Grand Slams. "This is the only one I have yet to win," Kafelnikov said. Ferreira, a South African who is the oldest player left in the tournament at 29, reached his second semifinal of the year. He broke Pavel's serve at love for a 6-5 lead in the second set and won the match with a service winner.

"Getting toward what I guess is the end of my career, just thinking about a time to retire, I guess that also makes me play well because I maybe don't have that much longer to go," Ferreira said. "I want to be able to retire from the game feeling good about what I've done," he said.

Pavel, who ousted fourth-seeded Andre Agassi on Thursday, could not come up with another top-class performance. "I put my expectations too high, I put too much pressure on myself," the Romanian said. "He never gave me a chance. I didn't get any free points." Hewitt beat Rusedski in a quarterfinal for the second week in a row after also winning in Basel, Switzerland. "I learned a lot last week," Hewitt said. "Greg is always difficult to play, he doesn't give you much rhythm. On second serve, he often stays back and that was my chance."

"I also served more aces today, which is unusual," said Hewitt, who finished with five. Rusedski, one of the biggest servers in the game, had only four.

"If you don't serve the corners well and put enough first serves in, you are going to be in an awful lot of trouble with him," Rusedski said.

Hewitt is also in the running for one of three remaining places at the Masters Cup. Schalken, who ousted third-seeded Magnus Norman in the third round, won the Tokyo tournament and finished runner-up to Norman in Shanghai before coming to Stuttgart.

In addition to Agassi and Norman, No. 1 Marat Safin and No. 2 Gustavo Kuerten were also ousted - Safin by Rusedski and Kuerten by Sebastien Grosjean, who contested the last quarterfinal Friday against Michael Chang.

(sda)