While his Davis Cup teammate took centre-stage at the French Open, Greg Rusedski was in more modest surroundings, being outplayed by Canadian teenager Frank Dancevic in the quarter-finals of the Surbiton Trophy, and admitted: ''It has been harder to come back than I thought.''

The British number two had scored two satisfying victories on the Surrey grass and gained some valuable match-practice this week as he set his sights on a much more impressive performance in the Stella Artois Championship at Queen's next week.

But the tall Dancevic, from Niagara Falls, proved too athletic and sharp for his Montreal-born rival and, after a brief rain interruption, raced through to the semi-finals of the £25,000 event 6-4 7-6.

''I thought I played better than in my two previous matches against Hyung-Taik Lee and Todd Reid,'' said Rusedski, now 30.

''But I paid for one distinctly average service game in the first set, when I had a double fault and missed two easy volleys, and it was just a matter of a few points here and there in the second. I need to be able to raise my level in those situations.

''It is always disappointing when you lose but he was slightly better than me today and at least I've had three more matches here than I would have done - the match-practice is invaluable.

''It is harder than I thought coming back and I'm not as young as I used to be. But I still feel pretty good and I'm looking forward to Queen's, where some of the greatest champions regularly enter.

''Depending on how I do there, I might also enter Nottingham the week after if I feel I need more matches ahead of Wimbledon, provided they will hold a wild card for me.''

Rusedski is firmly in the shadow now of Tim Henman, after the British number one's splendid exploits on the Paris clay, but Dancevic's form was another warning of young players coming up to usurp him.

Now just below the world's top 100, with Dancevic at 188, Rusedski clearly still needs to work on his fitness after an injury-littered career.

* Rusedski, Arvind Parmar and Jonathan Marray will join Henman in the main draw of the Stella Artois Championships.

The British trio claimed the three remaining wild cards for the event, which begins on Monday.

Rusedski, who was ranked just outside the cut-off for direct entry into the tournament, learned that he would take his place in the main draw, to be made today, after James Blake withdrew with a neck injury. Parmar has improved his ranking to number 156 over the past year, while Marray was selected for the British Davis Cup team against Luxembourg in April.