The 20-year-old Croat, ranked 198th in the world, won the first set in an incredible 13 minutes. He had beaten Andrei Medvedev of Ukraine in the first round.

Kafelnikov, the Australian Open champion from Russia, dashed another chance at gaining the No 1 ranking.

Also today, No 5 seed Mark Philippoussis advanced to the third round, eliminating Paraguayan Ramon Delgado in a close, rain-interrupted match.

Seeds stumble

BUDAPEST: Top seeds Jana Novotna and Henrieta Nagyova joined the parade of high-profile, first-round eliminations at the Budapest Lotto Ladies Open today.

The top-seeded Novotna was toppled by unseeded Slovakian Ludmilla Cervanova, 6-4, 6-3, joining No 3 Silvia Farina of Italy and No 4 Virginia Ruano-Pascual and No 6 Maria Antonia Sanchez-Lorenzo of Spain, all of whom were ousted yesterday.

No 2 Nagyova of Slovakia,fared only slightly better, winning a set before being upset by Russia's Evgenia Koulikovskaya 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.

The day's results left only two seeds, No 5 Natalie Dechy, and No 7 Sarah Pitkowski, both from France, remaining in the $142,500 clay-court event.

Eighth-seeded Spanish Gala Leon-Garcia also was beaten, 6-3, 6-2, by Czech Denisa Chladkova.

Dechy advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Silvija Talaja of Croatia, while Pitkowski had to overcome a first-set loss to Zsofia Gubacsi of Hungary before prevailing 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1.