British pair fall in qualification

Arvind Parmar and Martin Lee were knocked out of the US Open qualifying tournament at the second-round stage in New York.

Parmar put up a fight before losing 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to Switzerland's Ivo Heuberger late Thursday but his fellow Briton Lee was outclassed, losing 6-2, 6-1 to Mario Ancic, of Croatia.

There was better news for Greg Rusedski in the wake of the withdrawals of the Australian Open champion, Thomas Johansson of Sweden, and Argentina's Guillermo Canas from next week's Grand Slam event due to injuries.

Johansson, who was seeded 12th, made his absence official having said on Wednesday that an injury to his right arm was too bad for him to play, while Canas pulled out Thursday because of a stress fracture in his right wrist. Rusedski and Finland's Jarkko Nieminen become seeds and move position in the draw, Rusedski taking Canas' spot and Nieminen replacing Johansson. Two lucky losers fill the gaps created.

In Long Island, Alex Corretja won through to the quarter-finals of the TD Waterhouse Cup 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 after a three-hour battle with Jonas Bjorkman. The defending champion and top seed, Tommy Haas, had to rally from a set down for the second consecutive match to beat Argentina's Agustin Calleri, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

At New Haven, Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport advanced to the semi-finals of the Pilot Pen tournament, but Martina Hingis lost to the unseeded Anastasia Myskina. Hingis, who was given a wild card into the US Open, lost the final 11 games to the Russian in a 6-7, 6-4, 6-0 defeat. Williams, the top seed, breezed past her fellow American Laura Granville, 6-2, 6-1, while the second seed Davenport struggled early before beating the sixth seed Amelie Mauresmo, of France, 7-6, 6-3.