Greg Rusedski, who will today have a scan on his injured ankle, received some much needed good news yesterday when he enjoyed the luck of the draw for the first round at Wimbledon and saw one of his major rivals self-destruct on Nottingham's grass courts.
The British No.1's participation at the All England Club, beginning on Monday, is in doubt after he suffered ligament damage at Queen's last week. However, the No.4 seed will face a qualifier in his first match if he can recover from his painful fall during the Stella Artois tournament, although he has only a 50-50 chance.
British No.2 Tim Henman, the No.12 seed, also received a favourable draw, against Czech Jiri Novak, world-ranked 86. Britain's top two will be kept apart until the final should they both go that far.
Second seed Marcelo Rios ought to feel right at home against another clay-court specialist, Francisco Clavet, of Spain, which is more than can be said for the Chilean yesterday. Rios's fragile temperament came back to haunt him again as he crashed out of the Nottingham Open first round in a fit of petulance inspired by his dislike of grass.
Top seed Rios seemed to give up after losing his cool against Italian Gianluca Pozzi and surrendered the third set 6-0 after losing the second 6-4, despite having looked in control by winning the first 6-3.
Top seed Pete Sampras has had his troubles recently, but the holder should not be severely tested at Wimbledon by Dominik Hrbaty, of Slovakia, as he seeks his fifth title.
Cedric Pioline, last year's losing finalist, faces a tough opener against former Olympic champion Marc Rosset but yesterday comfortably beat Swede Tomas Nydahl 6-4, 6-4.
Second seed Jonas Bjorkman went through 6-4, 6-4 against German Marc-Kevin Goellner, but eighth seed Hicham Arazi lost to David Prinosil, and fifth seed Todd Woodbridge was defeated by Zimbabwe's Wayne Black.
Arazi's defeat will give hope to British No.3 Andrew Richardson, who plays the Moroccan at Wimbledon. Britain's Danny Sapsford faces a hard task against Frenchman Jerome Golmard, who took Rusedski to three sets at Queen's last week, while Chris Wilkinson and former world junior No.1 Martin Lee take on qualifiers.
Women's holder Martina Hingis has a tough opening match against American Lisa Raymond, ranked 19 in the world. French Open runner-up Monica Seles has an easier tie against Maria-Antonia Sanchez Lorenzo, of Spain, as she attempts to win her first Wimbledon title, the only Grand Slam crown to elude her.
Seven-times champion Steffi Graf, seeded fourth but ranked only 91 in the world, continues her comeback against Gala Leon Garcia, of Spain..
Serena Williams fought her way to win her first grass-court match yesterday, beating Japan's Naoko Sawamatsu 6-4, 7-5, and No.6 seed Anna Kournikova recovered to beat Alexandra Fusai 2-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Britain's No 10 Luke Milligan was eliminated when the Wimbledon qualifying tournament resumed at Roehampton. He dropped his serve on resumption, allowing Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus, to serve out for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory.
If the singles seedings work out, the last 16 line-ups would be:
Men: (1) P Sampras (USA) v (16) F Mantilla (Spain); (10) A Corretja (Spain) v (7) Y Kafelnikov (Russia); (3) P Korda (Czech) v (13) A Agassi (USA); (12) T Henman (Britain) v (6) P Rafter (Australia).
(5) C Moya (Spain) v (11) J Bjorkman (Sweden); (14) G Ivanisevic (Croatia) v (4) G Rusedski (Britain); (8) C Pioline (France) v (9) R Krajicek (Holland); (15) K Kucera (Slovakia) v (2) M Rios (Chile).
Women: (1) M Hingis (Switzerland) v (13) P Schnyder (Switzerland); (15) D Van Roost (Belgium) v (5) A Sanchez Vicario (Spain); (3) J Novotna (Czech) v (10) I Spirlea (Romania); (12) A Kournikova (Russia) v (7) V Williams (USA).
(6) M Seles (USA) v (14) S Testud (France); (11) M Pierce (France) v (4) S Graf (Germany); (8) C Martinez (Spain) v (16) N Tauziat (France); (9) A Coetzer (South Africa) v (2) L Davenport (USA).
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