Rusedski falls to Clement

Rusedski follows Henman's lead

Arnaud Clement (France) bt Greg Rusedski (GB) 6-2 6-3
Fabrice Santoro (France) bt Marat Safin (Russia) 1-6 6-1 6-4

Britain's Greg Rusedski and US Open champion Marat Safin have crashed out of the men's singles event after losing to French opponents.

Rusedski never looked to be on top during the contest as the Frenchman played a brilliant all-round game which left the Briton subdued.

A double fault broke Rusedski's service in the fourth game and another helped Clement break again in the eighth to clinch the first set.

The left-hander was broken again in the eighth game with two superb passing shots from Clement who held his own for a deserved victory.

"I came up against a better player who played a smart match," said Rusedski.

Major shock

Safin's Games ended miserably

"He had me guessing all the way through, the guy was hitting four winners in a row at times.

"But I'm not going to change my game. If I'd stayed back I still wouldn't have won the rallies."

Controversy surrounded Rusedski on Tuesday after he stated that the money, accumulated by the LTA from Wimbledon, should go towards athletes who had a chance of winning at the Olympics rather than go to undeserving tennis players.

"I was surprised at all the headlines but everyone makes a mistake once in a while, that's life," added the Briton.

There was a major shock at the Games when Russian number-one seed Safin lost in three sets to another Frenchman Fabrice Santoro.

After winning the first set easily the US Open champion fell apart in the second and lost the third 6-4 after a tense struggle.

"Last night I slept okay and woke up feeling very good," said Safin.

"It was not a physical problem. I'm 20 years old - I have enough energy to play. I had the motivation but I just could not do it."