STUTTGART, Germany -- Defending champion Wayne Ferreira beat Dominik Hrbaty 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 Monday in the first round of the Stuttgart Masters for only his second match victory since June.

The South African is trying to become the first player to win consecutive titles in Stuttgart. The $2.95 million event is eighth in the nine-tournament Masters Series, the most important events after the four Grand Slams.

Ferreira's slump dropped him to No. 73 in the Champions Race. His best results this year came at the Masters Series event in Rome, where he reached the quarterfinals, and the semifinals at Queens, a Wimbledon tuneup.

Mark Philippoussis beat Alberto Martin 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to avenge a first-round loss to him last week in Austria. He next meets Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic.

Big-serving Greg Rusedski lost 6-3, 6-4 to qualifier Julien Boutter. Nicolas Lapentti rallied past Carlos Moya 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 to raise his record against the Spaniard to 4-0.

Marcelo Rios, winner in Hong Kong last month, came back to beat Fabrice Santoro 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. Nicolas Kiefer squandered a 5-2 lead in the tiebreaker to lose to Albert Costa 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (6).

Ferreira broke serve in the opening game of each of the two sets he won.

"I've been practicing with Dominik quite a lot in the past few days," Ferreira said. "I hope last year brings back some good memories because I haven't been playing that well lately and hopefully I can win a couple of matches."

Hrbaty also went through a long slump after making the quarterfinals at the Australian Open. The Slovak, No. 26 in the Champions Race, recovered in recent weeks, reaching the semifinals in Uzbekistan, and Moscow.

Hrbaty lost to Ferreira for the second time this year after Rome. He is 0-3 against the South African.

All 16 seeded players received byes into the second round. Gustavo Kuerten is No. 1 followed by Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt and Juan Carlos Ferrero. Pete Sampras is seeded ninth.

All the top players are in Stuttgart except Patrick Rafter, Todd Martin and Richard Krajicek.

The tournament could be crucial in determining which players will qualify for the Masters Cup in Sydney, the season-ending event in November.

Kuerten, Agassi and Hewitt already have earned berths in Sydney and five other places are up for grabs.

Also, Sjeng Schalken ousted wild card David Prinosil 6-2, 6-4; and Bohdan Ulihrach defeated Andreas Vinciguerra 6-3, 6-2.