Gustavo Kuerten`s chances of being crowned world number one for the second consecutive season have been all-but dashed at the Masters Cup in Australia. The Brazilian can no longer qualify from his round-robin group at the tournament in Sydney and is almost certain lose his rank to either Lleyton Hewitt or Andre Agassi.
Only if they both slip up can Kuerten hold on to his position. Kuerten lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero on Thursday to weaken his position and when Yevgeny Kafelnikov beat Goran Ivanisevic later in the day, Kuerten`s fate was sealed. Kuerten, who lost to Ivanisevic in his opening match, needed the Wimbledon champion to beat Kafelnikov to remain in contention at Sydney`s SuperDome. Kuertencan only hope to beat Kafelnikov in Friday`s last round of preliminary matches, to salvage some points and put a little more pressure on Hewitt and Agassi in the rankings race.
Ferrero withstood a first set fightback by Kuerten and then raced through the tiebreaker and the second set to win 7-6 (7/3) 6-2 in 85 minutes.

Bureau Report