Lee Comeback Stuns Rusedski; Delgado, Marray Win

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Korean qualifier Hyung-Taik Lee came back from 3-0 down in the final set to stun British favourite Greg Rusedski in the first round of the Stella Artois Championships.

Lee, who reached the quarterfinals on his only previous appearance at The Queen's Club in 2002, eventually came through 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to record his first win over Rusedski in four meetings - and avenge his loss to the Briton last week in Surbiton.

Rusedski, who received a wild card into the Stella Artois Championships, made the best possible start - serving three aces in the opening game before forging a 3-0 lead. Although he took the opening set in 28 minutes, Rusedski failed to maintain the momentum as the 28-year-old Lee broke to take a 3-1 lead in the second set as Rusedski delivered three of his nine double faults in the game.

As Lee took the match into a deciding set, it was the Briton who looked the more likely to go through as he led 3-0. But another double fault in the fifth game proved costly for Rusedski, as Lee levelled at 3-3 and broke again to serve for the match at 5-4. Not even the record Monday Stella Artois crowd could lift Rusedski, as Lee held his nerve to book his place in the second round with his fourth ace of the match.

Rusedski, who has now lost his last five matches on the ATP circuit, said: "I had my opportunities to win the match even though I wasn't playing that well. It's disappointing because every match you can get through somehow, you think that maybe things will start to click. But unfortunately it just didn't happen for me today.

"I was trying my best out there, but I felt from the first ball to the last that things weren't working the way I would have liked them to obviously. I wasn't serving well, threw in too many double faults, and I wasn't moving as well as I would have liked. When you work hard in practice and have the right preparation and things don't come, you've just got to find a way to stick with it. You still want to get better."

Elsewhere on day one, there were mixed fortunes for British wild cards Jonathan Marray and Arvind Parmar. Marray recorded his first career win on the ATP circuit with a 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 victory over Belgian Christophe Rochus.

"I only found out I got the wild card on Thursday evening and it's good to do something with it," said Marray. "I played well and stuck to my game plan, which was to basically come in behind virtually anything."

The 23-year-old from Sheffield, currently at No. 277 in the INDESIT ATP Entry Rankings, will now meet fellow Briton Jamie Delgado, who saved a match point in the second set before defeating No. 11 seed Taylor Dent. The American was a point away from a place in the second round at 5-4 in the second set, but Delgado saved that with a winning forehand and then took the match 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(3) in just over two hours.

Meanwhile, Parmar led Canadian wild card Frank Dancevic 5-2 in the opening set and 3-1 in the third before going down 7-6, 1-6, 7-6(5) in 1 hour, 53 minutes.

In other first round action, Russia's Igor Andreev set up a meeting with his idol Andre Agassi after defeating French teenager Richard Gasquet 7-6(4), 7-6(4) in what was his first ever match on grass.

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