Sporting Digest: Tennis

JEREMY BATES, the British No 1, lost 6-2, 6-1, to Winchester's Lawrence Matthews, ranked 13 places below him, while playing for David Lloyd (Raynes Park) in the National Club League yesterday.

EVEREST NATIONAL CLUB LEAGUE: Premier Division: Men A: Banbury West End 6 Holcombe Brook 0; David Lloyd (Bushey) 6 Shipley Hall 0. Men B: Clearview 3 Millfield 3 (Clearview win on top singles); David Lloyd (Raynes Park) 3 Winchester 3 (Raynes Park win 7-6 on sets). Women A: Banbury West End 3 Edgbaston Priory 3 (Banbury win 7-6 on sets); Bramhall Park 1 Gosling 5; Dunfermline 2 Holcombe Brook 4.

WORLD TEAM CUP TOURNAMENT (Dusseldorf, Ger) First round: Red group: Germany 2 France 1 (M Stich bt F Santoro 1-6 6-3 6-3; C-U Steeb lost to A Boetsch 4-6 6-4 4-6; Stich and P Kuhnen bt Boetsch and H Leconte 6-3 6-4). Sweden 2 Czech Republic 1 (S Edberg lost to P Korda 1-6 1-6; M Larsson bt D Vacek 6-3 6-1; Edberg and A Jarryd bt Korda and C Suk 6-7 7-6 7-6).

FRENCH OPEN (Paris) Qualifying competition (selected): Men's singles, first round: H de la Pena (Arg) bt S Cole (GB) 6-3 6-3; A Foster (GB) bt P Wekesa (Ken) 2-4 ret; A Vysand (Rus) bt C Wilkinson (GB) 6-2 6-1.

MURATTI INTERNATIONAL ATP TOURNAMENT (Bologna) Second round: A Cherkasov (Rus) bt K Alami (Mor) 7-6 7-5; C Dosedel (Cz Rep) bt R Furlan (It) 7-6 1-6 6-3; C Pistolesi (It) bt J Sanchez (Sp) 6-3 6-4; F Davin (Arg) bt D Nargiso (It) 6-3 6-1.

STRASBOURG WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT Second round: A Wiesner (Aut) bt S Stafford (US) 6-3 6-0; G Helgeson (US) bt S Appelmans (Bel) 4-6 7-5 6-3; F Labat (Arg) bt K Rinaldi (US) 6-2 7-5; J Novotna (Cz Rep) bt K Kroupova (Cz Rep) 7-5 6-1.