By Jon Herskovitz
TOKYO, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Top seed Gustavo Kuerten swept aside Chile's Nicolas Massu but fifth seed Michael Chang fell in the second round of the Japan Open tennis tournament on Wednesday.
Number three seed Mark Philippoussis of Australia blasted compatriot Wayne Arthurs 6-2 7-5 with his booming serve as the error-prone Arthurs never presented a serious challenge.
World number three Kuerten, returning after defeat in the quarter-finals of the Hong Kong Open last week by Patrick Rafter, took a while to find his stride before overwhelming Massu 7-6 (7-5) 6-0.
Chang was defeated 7-5 6-4 by Cecil Mamit, a fellow American he had beaten earlier this year in a hard-court tournament in San Jose, California.
Reigning champion Nicolas Kiefer, the second seed, withdrew from the $970,000 tournament because of an injury to his right wrist.
Kiefer sustained the injury before the U.S. Open and it flared up again in Hong Kong, where he won the title last Sunday.
Fellow German David Prinosil, the 14th seed, also departed, running out of energy against South Korean qualifier Yoon Yong-il, who won 6-4 5-7 6-1.
Kuerten overpowered Massu with blazing forehand winners and blistering aces, conceding only four points on his service in the one-sided second set.
``The first match it is always kind of difficult to start playing at your real best. Once I got the lead, things were much better and I felt much more comfortable,'' the Brazilian said.
Kuerten, playing in Japan for the first time, needs a good run in Tokyo to keep his lead in this year's ATP Tour champions race.
He said he wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland after the tournament.
Chang had trouble landing his first serve and contesting the baseline battle against Mamit.
Mamit dissected the former French Open champion's second serve offerings and showed impressive skill in landing winners with his running forehand to take the first set.
``I just wasn't able to close that first set out,'' Chang said. ``I wasn't able to put away as many shots as I would have liked to.''
On the women's side, top seed Julie Halard-Decugis was stretched to three sets by home-town favourite Shinobu Asagoe but managed to squeeze by the Japanese player 6-2 3-6 7-5.
Second seed Amy Frazier advanced to the third round with a 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-3) win over fellow American Corina Morariu.
But third seed Kristina Brandi retired due to dehydration when down 2-6 5-6 in another all-American match against Tara Snyder.
WEDNESDAY QUOTES
GUSTAVO KUERTEN (No.1 Seed)
(After defeating Chile's Nicolas Massu)
The first match is always difficult to play your best. I couldn't find my rhythm or go for my best shots. Then after I won the first set, I feel much
more comfortable and I break him first game (of the second set) ... I thought he was playing pretty well in the first set. I had not too many chances to break him. Then he went down a little bit. (On the possibility of being World No.1) It's the main thing we all fighting for now. We have three mandatory events and another few tournaments we can still make some points. So we are four players that are fighting for this place, to finish No.1. I think everyone's pretty excited and it's been a few years since we've seen this type of competition. I think the changing with the Race, people can watch much easier now.
(One of the reasons he decided to play the Japan Open this year) I came also to see Disneyland.
MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS (No. 3 Seed)
(After defeating countryman Wayne Arthurs)
It was going to be a very dangerous match for me today. He has a big serve and I haven't played him for a long time, since I was in juniors, when I was 16 years old. I just wanted to have a feel for the centre court and go out there and make him play. I'm feeling confident from last week so I wanted to keep that going. It's the best I've played since the start of the year. I had a good week last week. It would have been nice to have won another match (in HK last week). But I've built a lot of confidence and today I played exceptionally well.