Martin Lee lost in the first round of the Samsung Open, then pocketed one of his biggest cheques of the year.

The Worthing ace earned around £2,500 for his 7-6, 6-4 defeat against fellow British left-hander Barry Cowan at the Brighton Centre yesterday.

That is almost as much as he has won for reaching finals of the lower grade competitions he usually plays in.

Lee's ranking is not high enough to gain him automatic entry into ATP main Tour events, but he was awarded a wild card for the Brighton spectacular.

"I have done pretty well this year," he said. "I have made two finals of Challengers and you get about £3,000 to make a final.

"This is still a lot of money to me when you have to travel all year and have a lot of expenses."

It could have been more. Lee was in charge of the match until Tin Henman arrived.

He broke Cowan in the third game, led 5-3 and was serving for the first set at 5-4 when Henman turned up on the other court to practise.

It was purely coincidence, of course, but Lee's fortunes waned from that moment.

Cowan took the set to a tie break, which he romped away with 7-1 with the aid of successive double faults.

The lofty Lancastrian made the decisive break in the opening game of the second set, although Lee battled to the end.

He saved five match points in his final service game before a forehand winner by Cowan completed his exit in 1hr 36 mins.

Cowan, the British No. 5, said: "I was aware of Tim knocking up on the next court. That's life I guess. You have just got to concentrate on your own match.

"The spectators were probably watching Tim, but that's fine. He is a world class player and I have still got a lot to prove to people.

"Things have not gone well for me the last few weeks, but I felt as long as I remained positive I would break serve. Once I did I went up a couple of levels.

"I had a two-hour chat with my coach (Dave Sammel) and he helped me with my mental approach.

"Sometimes when you aren't winning you can get down.

"I was under pressure in certain situations during the match, but I handled it well."

Lee, one place below Cowan in the domestic rankings, said: "In the first set I thought I played well. Barry was hanging in there and at 5-4 I missed a few first serves.

"That let him back in. I missed a couple of shots and in this game it only takes a couple of shots to turn a match around."

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