Unseeded Saulnier halts Rusedski return

Greg Rusedski crashed out of the Australian men's Hardcourt Championship in the second round yesterday when he was comprehensively beaten 6-2 6-2 by the unseeded Frenchman, Cyril Saulnier, in Adelaide.

The British No 2 had made a winning return to action in the first round, defeating Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-4, 6-2, in a rain-interrupted match spanning two days. However, Saulnier had given an indication of his own good form by earlier ousting the American fourth seed Robby Ginepri, 6-3, 6-4.

Rusedski said: "I thought he played well but I didn't really do too much today. I didn't handle the conditions well enough and I hit too many double faults. It's only my second match back so I have to keep everything in perspective and try to play better next week. I can only improve from this performance."

The teenage wild card Todd Reid advanced to the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-2 win over the Dutchman Raemon Sluiter. The 19-year-old Australian next faces the sixth-seeded Jarkko Nieminen, of Finland.

In Perth, Marat Safin muscled his way past Jiri Novak, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 yesterday to give his Russian side victory in their Hopman Cup tie with the Czech Republic. Russia need a clean sweep against the United States to progress into tomorrow's final.

Kim Clijsters, the world No 2, will wait until next week before deciding whether or not she will be able to take part in the Australian Open in Melbourne on 19 January. Clijsters' hopes of participating in the opening grand slam of the year suffered a blow on Wednesday when she hobbled out of a warm-up event with an ankle injury.