FILDERSTADT (Germany), Oct 11: German Anke Huber caused a major upset at the 565,000-dollar Filderstadt WTA event Thursday when she ousted fourth-seeded Belgian Kim Clijsters in their second round tie.

Earlier third seeded American Lindsay Davenport easily saw off Luxembourg’s Anne Kremer 7-5, 6-1 and France’s Sandrine Testud came away a 6-4, 6-4 winner against Spaniard Magui Serna.

The 26-year-old Huber, who has announced that she intends retiring after the Australian Open in January, gave an impressive performance in front of the home crowd here.

The world number 20 came away a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 winner against her 18-year-old opponent Clijsters, who is ranked fifth in the world and was fresh from her recent victory in Leipzig.

Huber, who is bidding to win her third title here after victories in 1991 and 1994, raced to an early lead with three straight breaks in the first set to take the set 6-3.

But French Open runner-up Clijsters rallied in the second, forcing a third set before Huber imposed 6-3 to send the second seeded player from the tournament after the surprise first round drubbing of eighth-seeded American Meghann Shaughnessy.

The German, who has won 12 WTA titles in her career, faces either sixth-seeded Belgian Justine Henin or American Chanda Rubin, who play later Thursday.

French seventh seed Nathalie Tauziat, who is also in her last season on the WTA circuit, later plays Russian Tatiana Panova.

Thursday’s results (x denotes seeding):

Second round: Anke Huber (Ger) bt Kim Clijsters (Bel x4) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3; Sandrine Testud (Fra) bt Magui Serna (Spa) 6-4, 6-4; Lindsay Davenport (USA x3) bt Anne Kremer (Lux) 7-5, 6-1.

SHANGHAI: Fourth seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan was the only seeded player to advance to the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Open on Thursday, after comfortably beating Switzerland’s Emmanuelle Gagliardi 6-3 6-3.