Siebel Open

Philippoussis was no match for Agassi

Andre Agassi was in imposing form as he saw off Australian Mark Philippousis 6-4 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the Siebel Open in San Jose.

The tournament's top seed, a four-time winner of the Siebel Open, enjoyed his ninth consecutive win of the year.

He has only been broken once in his past six matches, going back to the fourth round of the Australian Open which he won last month.

It was another night of near-perfect tennis for Agassi, on the top of his game at age 32 - when many of his American childhood rivals are planning to retire.

"It was a great night," said Agassi, who lost only four points on his serve in the 59-minute match.

"I do feel like I'm coming around to a nice peak as the tournament is going along."

Earlier America's James Blake claimed a second round 6-3 6-2 win over South Korea's Hyung-Taik Lee to reach the quarter-finals for the second consecutive year.

Fellow American Vincent Spadea also defeated fourth-seeded compatriot Jan-Michael Gambill 6-3 6-3 for his fourth win of the year.

Open 13

Local hero Sebastien Grosjean became the latest seed to lose in the early stages in Marseille.

The French number one and third seed crashed out 7-6 (7/4) 6-1 to Slovakia's Karol Kucera.

Grosjean joins Jiri Novak, Younes El-Aynaoui, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Fabrice Santoro and Tommy Robredo among the top eight players to have lost in the first two rounds.

However, top seed Roger Federer made it safely into the quarter-finals, beating Finnish player Jarkko Nieminen 6-3 6-3.

In addition to Grosjean's defeat, there was nearly further consternation for the French crowd as Nicolas Escude had to save four match points before eventually overcoming Croatian Mario Ancic 6-2 3-6 7-6 (12/10).

Escude will now meet compatriot Rodolphe Cadart, who had a 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 win over Max Mirnyi of Belarus.

Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty beat Olivier Mutis 6-3 6-4 while veteran Swede Jonas Bjorkman defeated Adrian Voinea of Romania 7-6 (8/6) 6-7 (8/6) 6-3.

And Dutchman Raemon Sluiter saw off Cyril Saulnier of France 7-5 6-7 (1-7) 6-2.

BellSouth Open

Former world number one Marcelo Rios stayed on course for his first ATP title in his native Chile by beating Spain's Albert Portas in straight sets.

Rios, seeded third and playing his first tournament of the year, overcame the Spaniard 6-4 7-6 in Thursday's late night match.

He will face fifth seed Argentine Agustin Calleri in Friday's quarter-finals.