Cowan dream debut ends in defeat

Barry Cowan's Olympic drean undone by Nestor

Britain's Barry Cowan saw his Olympic singles fairytale end in disappointing fashion at the Sydney tennis centre on Tuesday.

The unsung tennis hopeful surrendered the advantage to Canada's Daniel Nestor and was beaten in three sets.

Cowan, who had travelled to Sydney to take part in the doubles with Kyle Spencer, was unexpectedly given a berth in the singles competition following the late withdrawal of Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentii.

And the Lancastrian looked to be heading towards a surprise first-round victory when he won the first set 7-5.

But Nestor hit back in determined fashion and Cowan had no response to the Canadian's experience, who cruised through the second set and claimed the third to clinch a 5-7 6-1 6-4 victory.

Slip-up time

"I'm very disappointed," said Cowan. "I played a good first set and had the momentum going into the second but I let it slip against a good player."

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Nestor languishes some 94 places behind Cowan in the rankings, though the Canadian was by far the more experienced, having played in three Grand Slam doubles finals.

"In the third set I hung in but played a poor game to lose serve and he served well at the end," said Cowan.

But the Briton insisted he was remaining positive, as he turns his attention to the doubles.

"The Olympics is a tremendous experience," he said. "I didn't expect it to be this big and I'm looking forward to watching some of the other sports."

His next task here, however, will be even more daunting when, together with Spencer, he faces Yevgeny Kafelnikov and current US Open champion Marat Safin in the first round later this week.