Henman defeat ends British hopes - 美網 Tennis

Last Updated: Monday, 13 March 2006, 23:15 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/4803874.stm

Henman defeat ends British hopes

British interest at the Indian Wells Masters Series event ended on
Monday as Tim Henman was beaten 6-4 6-4 by 20-year-old Tomas Berdych.

Henman made a solid start against the highly-rated Czech before dropping
serve in the ninth game.

Berdych, seeded 23, served out the set and broke immediately at the
start of the second with some powerful hitting.

Henman hit back with three straight games but Berdych grabbed the
crucial break in game seven and held on.

Ninth seed Lleyton Hewitt awaits Berdych in the last 16 after the
Australian beat Germany's Rainer Schuettler 7-6 (7-3) 2-6 6-4.

In other matches, Andre Agassi served for the first set against in-form
Tommy Haas but could not contain the German, who recovered for a 7-5 6-2
victory.

Third seed Andy Roddick had a comfortable 6-3 6-4 win over Spain's
Fernando Verdasco, and fourth seed David Nalbandian saw off Frenchman Julien
Benneteau 6-4 6-1.

If my ranking does drop, as it will after this fortnight, it's not
something that is going to send me into a great deal of panic
Tim Henman

And Marat Safin continued his return from injury with a superb
7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-4 victory over fifth seed and fellow Russian Nikolay
Davydenko.

Henman has a record of eight wins and seven defeats so far in 2006 but is
satisfied with his game after a succession of injury problems.

"A match like that is frustrating because I played some good stuff to create
opportunities, but I didn't take them," said the 31-year-old.

"That's the crux of the match. If I'm the one that gets a set up, the
momentum probably goes with me and it might be a different story.

"But in the context of my game, my career, this year, I'm feeling good on the
court. That is the most important aspect.

Henman reached the last eight in Indian Wells last year and defeat means
he is now set to slip out of the world's top 50, but he remains optimistic.

"If my ranking does drop, as it will after this fortnight, it's not something
that is going to send me into a great deal of panic," said Henman.

"I know if I stay healthy I think there will come a stage where it's going
to start turning around because my ranking is made up of a couple of months
basically.

"From Wimbledon until the end of Australia, there's no tennis (last year)
really. I've got to keep building and I will keep building."

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