Henman enjoys the hard life

14 April 2012

Tim Henman battled back from a set down to beat American Paul Goldstein 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of the Legg Mason Classic in Washington.

Henman converted only five of 18 break point chances in his match. But he broke Goldstein in the first game of the final set and added another in the last game.

Henman said: "I'm pleased with the way I competed and he played a very good match.

"I had my chances in the first set with nine break points and I only converted once. He broke me twice in three break points.

"It's my first hard court match in a long time and my first competitive match in a month and I'm pleased the way I came through.

"I feel really good and my shoulder is fine. I just need to get matches under my belt and get used to the hard courts again."

The British No1, seeded 10, will be straight back into action tonight against Nikolay Davydenko after the Russian advanced with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Simon Larose of Canada.

Henman has never met Davydenko before on the ATP Tour but the 22-year-old will be a formidable opponent having already won in Adelaide and Estoril this year.

Second seed Andy Roddick, 20, set up a third-round match with Britain's Greg Rusedski tonight after beating fellow American Bob Bryan 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.

Roddick, who has won 21 of his last 23 matches, has already beaten Rusedski twice this year - at Wimbledon and Queen's - and is chasing his fourth title in six weeks.

The American and Rusedski hold the world record for the fastest serve at 149mph and the American said: "There's not much game plan against Greg - he will try to dictate play on his serve and I hope to take care of my serve.

"I expect another tough match with him." Elsewhere, second seed Carlos Moya crashed out in the first round of the Idea Prokom Open in Poland. He lost 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (6/8), 7-5 to fellow Spaniard Albert Portas, who will meet Galo Blanco in the next round.

There was no such trouble for top seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, who recorded a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Polish wild card Bartlomiej Dabrowski.

Ferrero will now play Czech qualifier Frantisek Cermak for a place in the quarter-finals.

Top seed Lleyton Hewitt moved into the quarter-finals of the Mercedes-Benz Cup in Los Angeles with a 6-0, 7-5 victory over American qualifier Michael Joyce.

Meanwhile, fifth seed Jennifer Capriati became the latest victim of the Acura Classic injury jinx today, retiring with a pectoral strain while trailing 4-1 to Russian Elena Likhovtseva in the second round.

The American was only on court for nine minutes before the strain became too painful to continue. She said: "It hurt me every time I made contact with the ball. I was afraid to go for it and risk further injury."

Capriati is the ninth player to either pull out or retire from the tournament. Injury had already forced out world No1 Serena Williams, No4 Venus Williams, Russian Vera Zvonareva, Americans Monica Seles, Ashley Harkleroad and Alexandra Stevenson, Natalie Dechy of France and Switzerland's Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian.

"It's a long season and, with the grind of the tour, there's not much time to take a break, let alone recover," added Capriati.

Seventh seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia had to save a match point to defeat Slovenia's Katerina Srebotnik 3-6, 7-5, 7-6. Hantuchova said: "I'm really happy. This win will give me more belief in myself."

American Lisa Raymond upset eighth seed Ai Sugiyama of Japan 6-0, 2-6, 6-4 while Mary Pierce of France knocked out Spain's Conchita Martinez 6-1, 6-3 and 10th seed Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria beat Australia's Alicia Molik 6-1, 6-3.

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