I don't like losing and playing the way I did tonight

"I don't like losing and playing the way I did tonight."Sampras made 54 unforced errors, including a double fault on match point. The umpire over-ruled when Rusedski's backhand volley to the corner was called out on the first set point, at 30-40. A double-fault gave Henman a second opportunity, and the Oxford man's return of serve caused Rusedski to dump a half volley into the net after 41 minutes.Rusedski won the second set with surprising ease, 6-2, but the deciding set proved to be a close encounter before Henman ran out the eventual winner.One player Henman will not be facing in either the semi-final or the final is Pete Sampras, who lost here on Wednesday night to the Spaniard, Felix Mantilla. Indeed, not a single ace came from Rusedski's racket during the opening period, in which he double-faulted three times.Rusedski managed to save two break points at 3-3, but was unable to deny Henman in the ninth game. He won the next point, but then hit a backhand long.Although Henman continued to search for consistency on his first serve, Rusedski was unable to punish him as much as he would have hoped in the first set.

Rusedski was broken in the opening game, after Henman's mishit backhand found a line on the second break point, and Rusedski capitalised on his opponent's loose first serve in the second game Henman did not produce a first serve until trailing 0-40. Rusedski, a substitute at the feast, eagerly accepted a straight-sets win worth enough points to enable him to end the season in the top 10.Serving being crucial to both players, it was interesting yesterday to see who would settle into a smooth rhythm first It proved to be neither. Two of the previous encounters were purely domestic affairs, with Henman defeating the Canadian-born Rusedski in the final of the National Championships at Telford in 1995 and 1996.Henman, the world No 7, would also argue that he was unable to match Rusedski's spirit in their last match, in the concluding round robin of at the ATP Tour Championship in Hanover last November, because he had already qualified to play the Spaniard Carlos Moya in the semi-finals. It was not exactly pistols at dawn, but Britain's top two seemed a lonely pair as the match began on a chilly, cloudy, desert morning, with spectators still drifting into the Centre Court. So intense was the concentration on both sides of the net, however, that Henman and Rusedski probably would have been oblivious even if the stands had been packed. Their rivalry has raised British interest in the sport so much in the past four years that it was hard to imagine that this was only their sixth meeting. TIM HENMAN recorded his fourth victory in six encounters with his fellow Briton when he beat Greg Rusedski 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 in the quarter- finals of the Champions Cup here yesterday.

Hopefully this unhappy incident can now be brought to an end."I am sure you share my hope that when we play together again either on opposite sides or on international duty, people have no reason to judge us other than on our footballing abilities.Best wishes,R Fowler."Merseyside on the defensive, page 30. However, under clear legal advice he has been careful not to admit to wrong-doing and again uses the term "misinterpreted" in the letter, having made the same claim in a statement last Friday after receiving Le Saux's letter of apology.Le Saux sent his letter to Fowler, and the contents of that have not been made public. Now Fowler clearly wants his version of the incident out in the open before the FA hearing, and he released it through his solicitor, Kevin Dooley.Graham Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, had expressed his wish to see a more extensive response from Fowler than he produced last Friday after Le Saux's public apology and his own private letter to the England striker.Le Saux's advisors had said they wanted to scrutinise the contents of any letter of apology from Fowler before giving it their seal of approval.Fowler's letter, beginning "Dear Graeme" and addressed to Le Saux, c/o Chelsea FC, Stamford Bridge, Fulham Road, Chelsea, London, said:"I am in receipt of your without prejudice letter about what occurred on Saturday, 27 February at Stamford Bridge."I am sorry if you misinterpreted my actions during the game, which were not meant to cause any offence to yourself or anyone else. The Football Association has since charged both players with misconduct. Fowler has been condemned for his actions, and yesterday sought to defuse the situation by issuing a copy of a letter from him that was delivered to Stamford Bridge earlier in the day. The 27-year-old Stone, whose contract with Villa takes him through to the summer of 2003, follows Dublin (pounds 5.75m), Paul Merson (pounds 6.75m), Alan Thompson (pounds 4.5m) and Steve Watson (pounds 4.2m) - the latter duo being fellow Geordies - as the major signings since Gregory arrived in February last year.Gregory, who recouped pounds 12.6m in one transfer alone when Dwight Yorke defected to Manchester United, has seen his lack of squad depth exposed by injuries and illness during Villa's recent poor run of form. He spent 12 years in the east Midlands after arriving as a teenager during the Brian Clough era, making his final appearance in Wednesday's defeat by Newcastle.Villa originally tried to offload Stan Collymore to Forest in part-exchange for Stone, but the controversial striker, who is under treatment for clinical depression, would not return to the City Ground. It's a situation we've monitored for a long time and I thought me might have to wait until the summer."Stone, who won nine England caps during Terry Venables' reign, has exchanged seemingly certain relegation with Forest for Villa's attempt to halt a run of one point from six matches, which has taken them from the Premiership summit to fifth place.

He's quick, gets around the park well and can play in any position across the middle. But Gregory's interest in further bolstering his midfield with George Boateng's combative talents has led to Coventry City reporting Villa to the Football Association for allegedly making an illegal approach to the Dutchman via his former team-mate Dion Dublin. After concluding the Stone deal, the Villa manager said: "I'm delighted to have got Steve for our last 10 games, and I hope he's going to help to turn our season round. JOHN GREGORY took his transfer outlay towards the pounds 30m mark in barely 12 months as Aston Villa manager last night when he paid Nottingham Forest pounds 5.5m for Steve Stone. King's $100,000 gift was the only donation to the foundation, the report said. The inspector general's report also found that more than half the money went to the foundation's director. After the donation, Scionti advocated to the athletic commission that it reverse its policy of excluding long-term contracts between promoters and fighters, a change King sought, the report said.Scionti "committed improper and or unethical acts", Bush said..