Rusedski battles back after scare

Greg Rusedski recovered from a shaky start to reach the second round of the Samsung Open in Nottingham.

The British No 2 lost the opening set and was a break down in the second to the 18-year-old Australian qualifier Todd Reid – but he fought back for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory to earn a last-16 meeting with Adrian Voinea of Romania.

Rusedski had not been planning to play here but was glad to accept a late wild card after his opening-match defeat in the Stella Artois Championships last week at Queen's Club. The 28-year-old is desperately short of match practice after a neck injury forced him to miss most of the clay-court season, and he appeared understandably rusty.

The British No 4 Jamie Delgado squandered a 5-2 lead in the opening set as he went down 7-6, 6-3 to Switzerland's Michel Kratochvil.

Elsewhere, the world No 2 Marat Safin won a three-set battle with Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan in the Liverpool International.

The Russian clearly enjoyed himself during his 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 win in the first of his round-robin matches. It was his first match since his defeat in the semi-finals of the French Open last month following treatment for a back injury in Moscow.

Jan-Michael Gambill beat Vince Spadea in their round-robin match, Spadea retiring with a recurrence of a long-standing shoulder injury after dropping the first set.

Mary Pierce made an unhappy return to grass when she crashed out of the Britannic Asset Management Championships in Eastbourne. The Frenchwoman had asked for a wild card to aid her preparation for Wimbledon, but lost 6-4, 6-4 to Japan's Ai Sugiyama.

Martina Navratilova, partnered by Natasha Zvereva, crashed out of the doubles in the first round, letting slip a 6-3, 5-2 lead in their 6-3, 5-7, 4-6 defeat to the South African Amanda Coetzer and the American Lori McNeil.