Tennis: Britons' Paris hurdle

BRITISH HOPES of having Tim Henman, and possibly Greg Rusedski, in the ATP Tour World Championship later this month will depend mainly on how they fare in the Paris Indoor Open this week.

If both play well they might still be fighting for places for Hanover at next week's Stockholm Open, where they are due to be seeded second and fourth.

Henman had looked certain to be in the eight-man Hanover field until the Dutchman, Richard Krajicek, won the Stuttgart tournament on Sunday.

Rusedski is back in 13th place and seemingly out of contention for the ATP finals but there are so many points at stake in Paris that if he won this week and then did well at Stockholm he would be back in contention.

Having received a first-round bye, Rusedski is due to start his Paris campaign against Nicolas Kiefer, while Henman, who also has a first-round bye, will meet the French wild card, Arnaud Di Pasquale.