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Henman wins Battle of the Brits

by Brian Cleary
Wednesday, August 30, 2006

It wasn’t the grudge match to quite the degree it once was when Great
Britain's long-time greats Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski faced off against
each other Wednesday afternoon in a first-round match out on Court 11.

Nonetheless, there was still plenty of tension between them, not to
mention interest on Court 11 and back in England, in what was just their
second meeting at a Grand Slam.

"They have mellowed a bit, they both have gotten older, they both have kids,"
said British scribe Barry Flatman. "But let’s put it this way: they still
don’t sit down to dinner together."

Unfortunately for Rusedski, 32, while his career has been in many ways t
he equal to his compatriot’s (each has a career-high ranking of No. 4),
their head-to-head battles have been anything but. Henman, 31, has owned
Rusedski, having taken the last six matches heading into this match. Henman
continued that dominance today, beating his one-time Davis Cup teammate
7-6 (4), 6-2, 6-3. He now leads in their match-ups, 8-2.

Both Brits played exquisite serve-and-volley tennis. Rusedski can still
crank his serve impressively and topped out today at 138 mph. But he was also
more prone to unforced errors, hitting 20 in the match compared to Henman’s
11. In the first-set tiebreak Rusedski, on serve, missed a forehand sitter at
4-4, and Henman took advantage, hitting back-to-back service winners to
take the set.

Henman fairly comfortably ran thru the final two sets, breaking Rusedski
twice in the second set and once in the third.

In all probability, this could be the last match between the two Brits,
who are both in the latter part of their respective careers. Henman made the
semis here as recently as 2004, but his ranking is now at No. 62. He turns 32
on September 6th, the same day Rusedski turns 33. Rusedski, who reached the
final of the US Open back in 1997, has fallen even farther and came into
today’s match ranked No. 136.

Henman's bragging-rights win moves him into the second round where, in
what may feel like a small consolation to Rusedski, he next faces No. 1 seed
Roger Federer.


Court 11 - Men's Singles - 1st Round


Tim Henman GBR 77 6 6
Greg Rusedski GBR 64 2 3

Serve Statistics


- This is Henman's 12th appearance at the US Open, while Rusedski has played
13 straight years.
- Henman's best US Open result was reaching the semis in 2004.
- This is the fifth straight year Rusedski has lost in the first round.
- In 2006, Rusedski has only won back-to-back tour-level matches once.




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║ソフトバンク,軟體銀行四大天王 ║ＳＯＦＴＢＡＮＫ║ ﹦ ║
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║カズミ サイトウ,トシヤ スギウチ,ナギサ アラカキ,ツヨシ ワダ ║
║192cm, 100kg 175cm,81kg 189cm,80kg 178cm,75kg ║
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