Rusedski fails to make his mark

Greg Rusedski bowed out of the adidas International in Sydney today, losing in three sets to Australian Mark Philippoussis.

The British number two bounced back from a set down to force the decider, breaking the Wimbledon finalist twice, but Philippoussis held his nerve at the death to secure a quarter-final place with a 6-3 1-6 6-4 win.

Blustery conditions had made life tricky for players earlier on in the day and in gloomy conditions, organisers turned on the centre court floodlights.

The pair, behind huge serves, rattled through the opening games but it was the Australian who found his rhythm quickly and Rusedski could not force the pace from the net as he did against Chela.

The British number two was missing simple volleys and could not finish off points and was picked off at will.

Philippoussis landed the crucial break for a 5-3 lead, capitalising on Rusedski’s determination to come into the net with three clinical passing shots.

He then set up the first set point with an ace and took it, much to the delight of the vocal crowd, landing the first set 6-3.

Just when he needed to impose himself, Rusedski continued to look jittery in the opening game of the second set, wasting an open court by skying a certain winner off the frame of his racket.

He held serve, then clung on to take a 2-1 lead after Philippoussis had forced him to deuce with a sensational back-hand pass.

Then all of a sudden, the match seemed to turn on its head.

Philippoussis thought he had served an ace, but it was called out and his concentration fell apart.

A double fault and two unforced errors handed Rusedski three, essentially free, break points and the under-pressure Brit pulled out a cross-court backhand pass of his own to move ahead.

Rusedski’s serve-volley game was still misfiring, but he held on and then broke Philippoussis to love again for a 5-1 lead and then served out the set.

Philippoussis’ second-set service statistics were woeful, with a 31% success rate, and he slowed down his pace in the opening game of the deciding set and held.

Rusedski then saved a break point at 1-2, with Philippoussis’ forehand flying long, before it was the Brit’s turn to pile on the pressure.

He won two break points with the scores tied at 4-4 – only for Philippoussis to wind that serve back up again as the Australian fired down an ace and an unreturnable serve for deuce.

Rusedski was forced to hold his serve to save the match – and he failed with Philippoussis back in the groove, forcing two match points with an electric series of backhands.

Rusedski did maintain his composure to save both but cracked at the third time of asking.