STUTTGART, Germany -- Andre Agassi lost a chance to reclaim the No. 1 ranking this week when he was upset by Hicham Arazi on Wednesday in the second round of the Stuttgart Masters Series.

Arazi defeated the tournament's second-seeded player 7-6 (4), 7-5. Agassi's exit comes a day top-ranked Gustavo Kuerten was ousted. Agassi could have regained the No. 1 ranking by winning the event.

"Unfortunately, you've got to win to be No. 1," Agassi said.

Agassi was ranked No. 2 in the Champions Race. U.S. Open Lleyton Hewitt, who was idle Wednesday, can advance from No. 3 to No. 1 by capturing the Stuttgart title.

Pete Sampras, trying to win his first title in 15 months, had an easier time. He beat Stefan Koubek 6-3, 7-6 (5) of Austria to reach the third round.

This was Sampras' first match since his loss in the U.S. Open final to Hewitt five weeks ago. His last title came at Wimbledon in 2000, a stretch of 18 tournaments.

Losing in the second round were 10th-seeded Alex Corretja, No. 6 Marat Safin, No. 12 Arnaud Clement and No. 16 Thomas Johansson.

In other matches, No. 5 Yevgeny Kafelnikov rallied past Andrei Pavel 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3, and No. 14 Andy Roddick survived 23 aces from French qualifier Julien Boutter to win 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5).

Last month, Agassi lost his opening match in Shanghai, China, to Irakli Labadze.

This time, Agassi fought off a break point at 5-3 in the first set. In the tiebreaker, a drop shot gave his Moroccan opponent two set points, and Agassi sent a return long to drop the set.

Agassi saved one match point but Arazi converted the second with a return winner.

"He just executed his shots better when the game got close," Agassi said.

Arazi, ranked No. 29, had been weakened by a cold until the start of the week.

"He makes you run a lot," he said. "I'm glad there was no third set. It's better to play him early in a tournament."

Sampras is tied with Sebastien Grosjean at No. 7 in the Champions Race, which determines the year-end No. 1 ranking.

Grosjean beat Albert Costa 6-3, 6-4 in the $2.95 million event, one of the nine Masters Series tournaments that rank just below the Grand Slams.

Sampras hopes to qualify for the season-ending Masters Cup next month in Sydney, Australia, which brings together the top eight players. He has been in the elite event 11 straight years.

"I probably wouldn't be here if I'd made Sydney by now. But I want to make it, I want to play against the best players in the world," said Sampras, seeded ninth. "I've got some work ahead of me to try to make it."

Sampras, seeded ninth, said he nearly skipped traveling to Europe because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"Definitely, I thought about it twice. ... At the end of the day, I felt it was best to come," he said.

His place at this year's Masters Cup is jeopardized because of Wimbledon winner Goran Ivanisevic. As a Grand Slam champion, the Croatian has a wild card even if he doesn't qualify as one of the top eight.

Sampras, like all seeded players, had a bye into the second round.

"I've never been crazy about having byes," Sampras said. "I've always liked to work my way into shape."

Sampras converted only one of nine break points. He never faced a break point on his serve and finished with 12 aces.

Also, Tommy Haas, the 15th-seeded German coming off his third title of the year, ousted Sjeng Schalken 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2.

Guillermo Canas, the losing finalist last week in Austria, overcame Johansson 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. Jiri Novak upset Corretja 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Nicolas Lapentti rallied to beat Clement 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. Clement squandered a 5-2 lead and one match point in the final set.