Richard Krajicek's win in the Mercedes Super 9 tournament at Stuttgart on Sunday means he moves above the British No 1.

Henman drops to No 10 in the world, but more crucially is now only the ninth highest points earner in 1998.

Only points gained since 1 January count towards the eight-man ATP Tour World Championship.

Henman was eighth on the list and 400 points ahead of Krajicek, before the Stuttgart event began.

After his third round defeat in the Super 9 he is now down to ninth place in the Road to Hanover table with 2,427 points.

That is 121 points behind Krajicek, who has moved into the elite eight.

Paris matches

Henman now has to produce outstanding form at the Paris Indoor Open this week if he is to stand any chance of qualifying for the World Championship for the first time.

Henman is seeded ninth in the Paris event and has a first-round bye.

In Tuesday's second round he play French wild card Arnaud De Pasquale, who beat Australian Richard Fromberg on Monday.

He must not take 19-year-old Di Pasquale lightly.

The French teenager was world junior champion last year and since January has improved his world ranking from 578 to his present 82.

Henman should win with something to spare but if he loses he can wave his Hanover bid goodbye.

If he does get through it will get tougher later in the week with his likely opponents Yevgeny Kafelnikov, runner-up in Stuttgart, and World No 2 Marcelo Rios.

British No 2 Greg Rusedski, remains 13th in the world rankings.

He is also seeded 13 for Paris, and has a first-round bye before playing Nicolas Kiefer, of Germany on Tuesday.

He still has an outside chance of making Hanover, but to achieve that aim he will need to reach at least the final in Paris and do reasonably well in the next tournament in Stockholm.

Britons may still make it

Both British players might have a chance of playing in the ATP Tour finals even if they do not qualify automatically for Hanover.

Australian Patrick Rafter has intimated he may fly back to his Bermuda home next week and may not make the return trip to Europe after a tiring year.

Krajicek, before his Stuttgart victory, had intended to have knee surgery following the Paris tournament and has not yet decided whether to delay the operation should he qualify for Hanover.

If he delays the operation he will miss the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, in January.

He says he will make a decision at the end of this week.