Becker's entry welcomed by the US Open

Boris Becker, a former champion, has entered this year's US Open, ending speculation that the German's recent Wimbledon appearance would be his last at a grand slam event.

Becker, 29, announced after his quarter-final defeat by Pete Sampras last week that it would be his last appearance at Wimbledon, a tournament that he has won three times. Becker said he realised he didn't have "what it takes to go all the way and win a championship like that".

The German, who won the US Open in 1989, will be giving grand slam tennis at least one more try next month at Flushing Meadow.

"I'm very glad that Boris will make at least one more appearance at the US Open," Jay Snyder, the tournament director, said. "He has always been one of the most exciting players in the sport and an integral part of US Open history the last 12 years."

Becker has not played in the US Open since 1995, when he lost to Andre Agassi in the semi-finals. He missed last year's event with an injured right wrist. Entries for this year's tournament, which begins on 25 August at the National Tennis Centre, close on Monday.

Britain suffered a further loss in the Bristol Challenger Trophy yesterday when Jamie Delgado bowed out of the quarter-finals. The 20-year-old went down 2-6, 7-6, 3-6 to the second seed Moses Navarra of Italy on Redland Green's centre court to leave the top seed Mark Petchey as the sole home survivor in the men's grass court event.

For the third successive match Delgado was involved in a three-set battle, but he was unable to improve upon last year's showing when he also fell in the last eight.

This time he had to claw his way back into contention, after being twice broken in the first set, losing the third and seventh games. But in what was largely a baseline battle with Navarra, Delgado hit back to take the second set tie-break 7-2.

The crucial moment came in the eighth game of the final set when Delgado served up his first double fault of the match to hand his opponent a vital edge.

The Italian, who reached Wimbledon's third round last year, needed no second invitation in his own service game to clinch a semi-final place against either South Africa's Jeff Coetzee or Stefano Pescosolido of Italy.

"I felt I played a pretty good match and, although I'm disappointed, I think my tennis has been of a pretty high quality this week," Delgado said. "Navarra is a strong player and didn't give me many easy points."

Alistair Hunt of New Zealand booked his place in today's last four with a comeback against the fifth seed Peter Tramacchi, of Australia. He lost the first set on the tie-break but went through 6-7, 6-4, 6-2.

At the Swedish Open in Basted Magnus Norman of Sweden, seeded fourth, beat the controversial American Jeff Tarango 6-2, 6-3 yesterday to set up a semi-final with Spain's Juan Antonio Marin.

Norman, who won a tough, three-set match on Thursday, found the going much easier against Tarango, breaking his opponent's serve twice in each set to prevail in a match that lasted less than an hour.

Marin, who went into the tournament unseeded, proved far too good for Norman's fellow countryman Thomas Nydahl, winning 6-2, 6-1, in a match that lasted just 63 minutes.