London, Dec. 8: Greg Rusedski has failed to become the first British winner in the 11 years of the BlackRock Masters at the Royal Albert Hall, his hopes being dashed by Frenchman Cedric Pioline.

Big-serving Rusedski fired down 18 aces but the Frenchman, who beat seven-times Wimbledon champ Pete Sampras to reach the final, survived to win 6-7 7-6 11-9.

The Sun quoted Rusedski, 35, as saying: “I had a match point but Cedric came up with the shots.”

The pair shared the first two sets with Rusedski, once the fastest server in the world, hitting eight aces to edge the opener.

Pioline took the second set 7-6 but Rusedski led the tie-break 4-1 before a costly double fault. (ANI)