Richardson taps rich seam

Tennis

Andrew Richardson's rich vein of form continued yesterday with a three- set victory over Tomas Nydahl in the first round of the Japan Open in Tokyo. The 23-year-old left-hander from Lincolnshire, who was forced to win two qualifying matches to enter the main draw, beat the Swede, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

Richardson reached his highest world ranking of 262 yesterday, but could now go into the top 250, following his success on the clay of the Ariake Forest Park.

Boris Becker, the second seed playing his first singles match for two months following a wrist injury, shrugged off his unexpected doubles defeat on Monday to beat the Canadian Sebastien Lareau, although he was forced into a tense three-setter before winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 to reach the third round.

The Spaniard Carlos Moya and Marcelo Rios, of Chile, ranked No 8 and No 9 respectively in the world, are among the early entries for the Nottingham Open, the pre-Wimbledon grass-court tournament, from 16 to 21 June.

Also in the 32-strong field will be the Dutch holder of the title, Jan Siemerink, who beat Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski on his way to the final last year. Rusedski has already confirmed his entry for this year.