Kuerten, Safin out of Paris Masters

World number one Gustavo Kuerten and title-holder Marat Safin crashed out of the $2.95 million Paris Masters Series on Thursday, leaving the door open for outsiders to win the last tournament on the regular ATP circuit.

Kuerten and Safin were the last two big-name players left in the draw after Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Pat Rafter pulled out while U.S. Open champion Lleyton Hewitt and Briton Tim Henman lost early on.

Kuerten lost to unseeded Dutchman Sjeng Schalken 4-6 6-4 6-4, the latest upset in a bleak indoor season.

Since the U.S. Open the Brazilian top seed has won only one match, his previous round encounter with Czech Bohdan Ulihrach.

"These are not the easiest courts for me to play. But now, only one to go, my last tournament before my vacation," Kuerten said about the Masters Cup.

Safin bowed 6-4 6-4 to Swede Andreas Vinciguerra, leaving only two players, Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean and Germany's Tommy Haas, in contention for the last spot in the Masters Cup in Sydney starting on November 12.

The Russian, winner in St Petersburg last Sunday, was hoping to make it two in a row at Bercy, but he was outpaced by Vinciguerra in front of a meagre crowd on Court One and put a lacklustre end to a rather disappointing season.

"I'm not interested in finishing top 10 or even number six in the world. I want to be in the top five or even better," he said after the defeat to a player who has beaten him four times previously.

"On a normal day, when I'm in form, it would be a different story. But today I was dead," he added.

MASTERS CUP

Russia will have an envoy at the Masters Cup, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who easily dismissed Spain's Albert Costa 6-3 6-4.

The former French and Australian Open champion had already qualified for the Masters Cup thanks to his second-round win in Paris. Progressing to the quarter-finals was just a bonus.

"It feels good to be in the Masters (Cup). We'll be playing in one of the most prestigious tournaments of the year with only eight guys competing with each other," he said.

"I think it's a great honour," he added.

In the next round, Kafelnikov will meet another surprise quarter-finalist in Czech Jiri Novak, who beat Julien Boutter, one of only two Frenchmen left in the tournament, 6-3 7-6.

With back-to-back wins in Vienna and Stuttgart and a strong chance of making it to Sydney, Haas admitted he was in the best form of his life.

The German number one, seeded seventh, outclassed Belgian Xavier Malisse to qualify for the last eight, scoring crucial points in his quest for the last Masters Cup spot still up for grabs.

But he said he was not too worried about the Masters Cup and wished instead to enjoy his current outstanding level of play.

"This is Paris here. This is a Masters Series. I want to do as well as I can here and not think too much about Sydney," he said.

"If I did, I would probably go crazy with counting points here and there," he said after his 7-5 6-1 victory over Malisse.

Grosjean -- currently 34 points behind him in the ATP race -- looks like he will fight to the bitter end to make it to Sydney.

The Frenchman beat Belgian Xavier Rochus 6-0 3-6 6-0 and was back in the same vein of form which helped him reach the semifinals at the Australian and the French Open.

"Coming here, I did not want to think about the Masters Cup too much. I just hoped to repeat the same sort of form I had at Roland-Garros," he said.

Unlike most players at Bercy, the French number one knows his season is not over yet.

Whether or not he qualifies for the Masters Cup, he is certain to be called up for the Davis Cup final against Australia in Melbourne at the end of the month.