Henman seeded fifth for Wimbledon

Tim Henman today missed out on a career best No3 seeding for Wimbledon.

Britain's top player was expected to be ranked behind favourite Roger Federer and No2 seed Andy Roddick for the Championships, which begin on Monday, after his heroics in reaching the French Open semi-final this month.

Wimbledon organisers do not have to follow players' world ratings and can refer to their record on grass but Henman has still been made fifth seed with Guillermo Coria and David Nalbandian also ahead of him.

The position should not disadvantage him in tomorrow's draw but means he has missed out on a career highest ranking at Wimbledon and the best starting position for a British man in 31 years.

Roger Taylor was third seed in 1973 but Henman's best seeding was fourth in 2002.

Greg Rusedski today won his second-round clash with Vince Spadea 7-6, 4-6, 6-1, as he defended his title at the Nottingham Open and aimed for another moraleboosting win ahead of Wimbledon.

It was sweet revenge for a firstround defeat by Spadea at Wimbledon in 2000 as Britain's No2 never faced a break point on his serve in the first set and raced through the resulting tie-break 7-3. Spadea levelled, winning the second set 6-4, but Rusedski romped home 6-1 to set up a third-round clash with Sweden's Thomas Johansson.

Rusedski won the title for the second time 12 months ago and must reach the latter stages to avoid being overtaken in the world rankings by compatriot Arvind Parmar.