Rusedski joins the ranks of Britain's fallen contingent

Worst home performance in tournament's 24-year history leaves Henman as sole surviving home hope in second round at Queen's

The British contingent at the Stella Artois Championships had another commendable day here yesterday. Neat ball control, accurate placement, unstinting optimism that Sunday's final is an achievable goal. But less about the ball girls.

Greg Rusedski became the fifth Briton of five to lose his opening match of the tournament, going down 7-6, 6-7, 6-7 to Mark Philippoussis of Australia after a predictably tight contest that was settled by three tie-breaks. Philosophical rather than disappointed, the British No 2 said afterwards that will be now accept a wild card to play the Samsung Open in Nottingham next week in order to get some match practice before Wimbledon.

"I can't really be too disappointed with my performance today," Rusedski said afterwards. "It was three tight sets where I didn't lose my serve at all and it came down to a few points at the end really. I did everything I possibly could, but when he's hitting second serves at 130mph, what can you do?"

With two of the game's biggest servers up against each other, a dazzling display of style was never on the cards. A 154-minute penalty shoot-out was however, albeit an absorbing one punctuated with some delightful passing shots from the Briton and some well-placed drop volleys from Philippoussis. Rusedski hit 24 aces, his opponent 25. Rusedski double-faulted four times, his opponent 14. When it came to the crunch the Australian simply had the stronger finish.

Rusedski had not played a match for five weeks before yesterday after suffering a neck injury in training. He only started hitting balls again 10 days ago, and said that he was happy with his fitness, his game and his chances at Wimbledon. "I felt physically fine out there, two and a half hours on the grass" he said. "I was happy with the mixture of my game, my serve did not let me down."

Asked about his chances in SW19, and about whom he would like to see win at the All England Club, himself aside, he was bullish. "Me, I want me to win it," he said. Asked again who he would like to see contest the final if he could not, he made it clear that success for a fellow Briton is not on his agenda.

"When I'm out, I don't really care," he said. "It doesn't interest me. It's a question of no relevance to me."

What is relevant to him today is that he joined four other home representatives in the Stella early bath. Arvind Parmar, Jamie Delgado and Martin Lee all made first-round exits on Monday. Alex Bogdanovic, an 18-year-old with the unenviable tag of the country's most promising youngster, was hard on their heels yesterday. He put up little resistance against Belgian qualifier Gilles Elseneer, falling 6-3, 6-2.

The quintet of losses is the worst performance by Britons at the west London Wimbledon warm-up in the tournament's 24-year history. Only Tim Henman survives to the second round. But then he has yet to play his first match.

He is scheduled to meet Neville Godwin today after the South African yesterday saw off the first-round challenge of the French prodigy, Richard Gasquet, in three sets, 7-6, 5-7, 6-3. Gasquet, who turns 16 next week and who won the Boys' Singles at Roland Garros last weekend, was playing on grass for the first time and did well not to suffer a heavier defeat.

Clearly a gem, he gave flashes of his superb groundstrokes and fearless choice of shots before bowing to the inevitable. Henman, in any kind of form, should avoid a similar fate. Then again ...