TASHKENT, Uzbekistan -- Yevgeny Kafelnikov became the seventh seed to be knocked out of the President's Cup when he was beaten by his former doubles partner, Czech Daniel Vacek, 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 7-5 in the second round Wednesday.
The Russian top seed denied he was saving himself for the Davis Cup semifinal against Australia in Brisbane next week.
"Believe me, I wasn't planning on losing this early. I wanted to reach at least the final here," the Australian Open champion said.
Next week, world No. 2 Kafelnikov and Marat Safin will lead their country in Australia. The Russia captain had said he wished both players would be knocked out early in Tashkent.
Kafelnikov's departure followed an early exit for seventh seed Marc Rosset, who lost to another Swiss, qualifier George Bastl, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).
That left third seed Nicolas Kiefer of Germany as the only seeded player to advance to the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Swiss Lorenzo Manta.
Five other seeds, including No. 2 Briton Greg Rusedski, all lost in the first round of the $500,000 tournament.
Sixth seed Safin bowed out to little-known Finn Ville Liukko in Tuesday's first round action when the Russian teenager retired in the third set after trailing 4-6, 7-5, 3-1.
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