Jamie Delgado's hopes of becoming the third British player though to the qualifying rounds of the Australian Open were ended when he was defeated in the final qualifying round.

Delgado was hoping to join Arvind Parmar and Julie Pullin in the first round of the opening Grand Slam of the new Millennium.

But the 22-year-old from Birmingham was trailing Julien Boutter of France 6-4 1-0 when rain halted their match prematurely on Saturday and when their third-round qualifying clash finally resumed on Sunday after another rain delay, the Frenchman ran out a 6-4 6-4 winner.

Meanwhile, Parmar of Hitchin has been drawn against Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui in the men's first-round while Pullin takes on Jane Chi of the United States in the women's singles.

Tim Henman, who is seeded 11, leads the British challenge and is first on court one against Jerome Golmard of France tomorrow.