Srichaphan halts Hewitt

Lleyton Hewitt, the world No 1 and defending champion, was surprisingly defeated 6-4, 6-3 by Paradorn Srichaphan, of Thailand, in the quarter-finals of the Japan Open in Tokyo yesterday.

Srichaphan had held four match points before losing to Hewitt in San Jose at the beginning of the year but believes that defeat has helped him. He said: "I learnt a lot from the last times, about what I'm going to do when the situation gets close or if I'm up a break."

Yevgeny Kafelnikov kept alive his hopes of becoming the first player in the Open era to win a tournament six times in succession when he reached the Kremlin Cup semi-finals yesterday with a 6-3, 7-5 defeat of France's Cyril Saulnier.

* Boris Becker has helped the German Tennis Federation to save the Hamburg Masters event, which had been suffering financial difficulties. A sponsorship and marketing agreement between Becker, the Swiss company BCI, and the Ace Group London, guarantees the tournament's survival in 2003 with an option for a further year.