Rusedski's determination to master the intricacies of clay, which took him to Barcelona for three weeks to practise for the French Open, almost backfired on him on the grass at the Queens Club Championships in west London yesterday when he was taken to three sets by the British number five Arvind Parmar and, on his own admission, could have lost.

"Too much clay maybe," he conceded after winning 7-6, 1-6, 6-2 to set up a second-round meeting with another Briton, Jamie Delgado, who defeated the Czech Martin Damm 6-1, 6-4.

Meanwhile, in the women's Wimbledon warm-up event on the Edgbaston grass, Lucie Ahl and Lorna Woodroffe salvaged British pride by taking tie-break third sets to win through to the second round of the DFS Classic.