NOTTINGHAM, England, 18 June 2004 — Defending champion Greg Rusedski’s hopes of retaining the Nottingham Open ended yesterday when he suffered a three-set quarterfinal defeat to Thomas Johansson.

The 2002 Australian Open champion from Sweden beat the British No. 2 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7 5).

Johansson, the 2001 Nottingham Open champion who missed the entire 2003 season due to a knee injury, will now play either American Taylor Dent or Victor Hanescu of Romania for a place in the final of the grass court tournament.

The quarterfinal defeat means Rusedski will likely fall outside the world’s top 150 players for the first time since 1993, and could be demoted to British No. 3 behind Arvind Parmar, when the new standings are announced on Monday — the first day of the Wimbledon tournament.

Yet Rusedski remained upbeat about his slump in the world rankings.

“I don’t really care. If I continue to play at this standard and to play well it doesn’t really matter whether you are the British number two, three, 17 or 257 to be honest,” he said.

“It’s about playing good tennis and at this time that doesn’t mean anything to me.”

Rusedski has only won four out of 11 matches since he was cleared of any wrongdoing following a positive drugs test for the banned steroid nandrolone last year.

The Canadian-born Rusedski was hoping to get some much needed practice ahead of Wimbledon, and conceded just six points on his serve in the opening set before he broke Johansson with a searing backhand passing shot.

Rusedski had another chance to break the Swede but failed to convert on two break points in the sixth game.

Johansson took advantage to close out the second set 7-5 with a backhand winner that Rusedski failed to reach whilst covering the net.

Once level, Johansson began to pressure the Rusedski service and made two superb returns to take a 6-5 lead in the tie break before serving out for his fifth victory in the previous eight meetings between the pair.

“I thought for a set and a half I dominated the match completely, I had all the chances and break points,” said Rusedski.

“It just came down to one or two points here or there, one forehand I missed on break point and one he hit an ace on, if I take one of those I would have won 6-4, 6-4. Thailand’s top seed Paradorn Srichaphan defeated Morocco’s Hicham Arazi 6-3, 6-4 and will now face Sweden’s Robin Soderling in the semifinals

Soderling cruised into the last four with a convincing 6-3, 6-4 victory over Brazil’s Flavio Saretta.

Powerful Mauresmo Reaches Eastbourne Semis

In London, top seed Amelie Mauresmo swept into the semifinals of the Eastbourne International yesterday, beating Bulgaria’s Magdalena Maleeva 6-4, 6-3.

The Frenchwoman handled the windy Devonshire Park conditions better and earned a place in the semifinals against Slovak Daniela Hantuchova.

“I have a few things to adjust but I am pretty happy about the whole picture,” Mauresmo said.

Maleeva, seeded eighth at Eastbourne, had started solidly enough but could not stay with her more powerful opponent.

Mauresmo has now won five of the six meetings between the two and the only one on grass. The Frenchwoman is still seeking her first grand slam title and is eyeing Wimbledon with relish.

Hantuchova booked her place in the last four with an impressive 6-1, 7-6 victory over third-seeded Japanese Ai Sugiyama.

The bottom semifinal will be an all-Russian affair between second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and fourth seed Vera Zvonareva. Kuznetsova beat Tina Pisnik of Slovenia 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 while Zvonareva wiped Spain’s Maria Sanchez Lorenzo 6-3, 6-0.