Brits crash out at Wimbledon

British tennis was brought back down to earth with a bump today when half of the country's remaining Wimbledon hopes crashed out.

After Barry Cowan took champion Pete Sampras to five sets last night, home supporters turned out in force to support Jamie Delgado and Arvind Parmar today.

But Delgado was beaten in straight sets by Andre Agassi and Parmar lost to Yevgeny Kafelnikov by three sets to one.

Delgado was easily beaten by Agassi 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 on Centre Court, but Parmar raised hopes by winning the first set 7-6 on a tie-break before losing the next three sets 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 on Court Two.

A rain delay and these heavy defeats dampened spirits and left Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman to fly the flag alone. Parmar was supposed to have the best chance of the lesser-known Brits. Russia's Kafelnikov has been fragile at Wimbledon and was an important scalp in Henman's career in the first round here in 1996.

Parmar, despite a cramp-inducing five-set victory in the first round, felt confident and the British No4 from Hitchin had said: "I've got the best chance to win the match. He is not a grass-court player."