British pair make exit

Mark Petchey followed his fellow Briton Tim Henman, out of the Nottingham Open yesterday after being just two points away from a semi- final place. During a second-set tie-break against the Australian Sandon Stolle, the British No 5 netted a backhand volley at 6-6 and then Stolle levelled the match with a winning overhead.

Stolle then took the final set to become the second player into the last four, after a 3-6, 7-6, 6-3 victory. Jan Siemerink, the No 5 seed from the Netherlands, had already reached the semi-finals by beating Henman 7-6, 6-7, 6-1.

The defeats of Petchey and Henman left Greg Rusedski as the last British hope in the tournament. He is due to face Japan's Shuzo Matsuoka.

Jane Wood failed to break Britain's duck at the Wimbledon qualifying tournament at Roehampton yesterday. The 28-year-old from Middlesex lost 6-4, 6-2 to Romania's Catalina Cristea to complete a rout of all 20 home players who entered the singles. Her defeat means that there are only six British women in this year's Wimbledon draw - all wild cards - which is the smallest contingent since the game went open in 1968.