Tennis: Rusedski targets Hannover

The British No 1, Greg Rusedski, beaten in five sets by Goran Ivanisevic in the CA Trophy final in Vienna on Sunday, has considerably improved his chances of gaining a place in the eight-man ATP Tour Championships in Hannover next month.

Though his world ranking has slipped from four to five in the latest ATP list announced yesterday, 24-year-old Rusedski has moved up from eighth to fourth place in the race for Hannover. He said: "Hannover is where I want to be next month and I'm determined to be there."

To help his cause Rusedski, who has played in 10 of the last 11 weeks, has withdrawn from the Ostrava tournament in the Czech Republic this week for a much-needed rest. His late withdrawal will not affect his world ranking since he was beaten early in Ostrava last year. It is not among his best 14 tournaments in the last calendar year on which all rankings are decided, so he has no points to lose. Rusedski's next tournament will be in Stuttgart next week.

Ironically, Ivanisevic took Rusedski's fourth place in the world rankings. But Rusedski, with 2,564 points, is only 17 behind the Croatian left-hander.

Tim Henman, beaten 6-4, 6-4 by Rusedski in the Vienna semi-finals, has moved up two places from 21 to 19 in the world rankings and now has 1,873 points, 691 behind his great rival.

Henman is competing in the Lyon tournament this week where he is seeded eighth.