Tennis/Australian Open Championships: At the height of their rivalry there was little to separate the careers of Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski in terms of titles won and, outside Wimbledon, their respective success on the annual grand slam circuit. Now they are much more sharply divided.
Henman, at 30, and precisely one year younger than Rusedski, remains a contender at the highest level, as he proved last year by reaching the semi-finals at Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows. Rusedski may not be slipping exactly quietly into his tennis dotage, but slipping he undoubtedly is.
On the fourth day of the Australian Open Henman, seeded number seven and not due to meet any of the heavy hitters until next week, moved untroubled into the last 32 with a 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Romania's Victor Hanescu. In comparison Rusedski, unseeded, was rushed to defeat by Andy Roddick, the world number two, whom Henman could meet in the quarter-finals.
It is now seven and a half years since Rusedski reached the final of the US Open, having also made it to the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 1997. Since then, in 26 attempts, he has never managed to get beyond the fourth round of a slam, and since the beginning of 2003, a time of great turmoil embracing operations and a failed drugs test, he has played in eight slams and not progressed past the second round.
"Sometimes you have the sort of days when nothing much is working, and that happened against Andy. I didn't serve well enough - my speed and accuracy were just not good enough," said Rusedski, who lost 6-0, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in little over 90 minutes. He knew he had not played well, or rather had not been allowed to play well, and it was no time to prevaricate.
The crumb of comfort he clung to was this: of the three matches he has lost this year, two have been against Roddick and the world number one Roger Federer. The third was against Sweden's Joachim Johansson, the world number 11 and one of the hottest players on the circuit.
Rusedski has always been an optimist, and is currently looking for a coach who will help him get what remains of his fading best - which in his mind, more than anything, means one more journey into the last week of a slam, and preferably at Wimbledon. Perhaps this journey - call it a pilgrimage if you wish - will happen, although the chances are it will not.
Tomorrow Henman will strive for a place in the last 16 against the Russian Nikolai Davydenko, a 23-year-old of considerable ability though often unfathomable intent. Davydenko has yet to get past the third round of a slam, and if he did it this time Henman would be mortified.
"I'd like to think he doesn't serve as well as Hanescu so I can perhaps be a little bit more aggressive," said Henman, who remains steadfast in the belief that he has finally learned to relax, to sweep away self-inflicted pressure from the front of his mind and to concentrate on imposing, wherever possible, his multiple skills on less gifted opponents.
Ultimately this may not be enough to win him a slam, or even get him into a final, but he is convinced it optimises whatever chances he has. "I can still do better. There are still times when I'm not as relaxed as I could be, but I'd like to think I can do it for longer periods."
There were no major surprises on day four, although all Australia held its breath in the second-set tie-break between Lleyton Hewitt, the number three seed, and James Blake when it seemed the American might open up a two-set lead. Hewitt won 4-6, 7-6, 6-0, 6-3, and great was the relief in the Rod Laver Arena.
Watching Venus Williams dispatch Shuai Peng 6-3, 6-1 and waltz into the third round yesterday, it would have been easy to dismiss the belief, widely held on the women's circuit, that she is no longer committed enough to tennis to be a serious contender for major titles.
She was focused enough to cope with the Chinese girl's more dangerous shots and send down a series of stinging winners, and if it was not quite the Venus Williams who won two Wimbledons and two US Open titles during 2000 and 2001 it was a passable imitation. Lindsay Davenport, however, probably regards the French Open champion Anastasia Myskina or another Russian, Elena Dementieva, as greater threats than Williams, and well she might.
Russia's hegemony in the women's game was confirmed by the emergence of three new major champions last year in Myskina, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova, and few would be surprised to see a Russian lift the trophy here in eight days' time.
Guardian Service
Australian Open Day Four
MEN'S SINGLES
Second round: Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) bt (18) Nicolas Massu (Chi) 6-0 2-0 ret; Bobby Reynolds (USA) bt (17) Andrei Pavel (Rom) 7-6 (8-6) 6-2 6-2; (12) Guillermo Canas (Arg) bt Fernando Verdasco (Spa) 3-6 7-5 6-3 6-0; Radek Stepanek (Cze) bt Jan Hernych (Cze) 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 1-6 6-7 (2-7) 6-0; Rafael Nadal (Spa) bt (15) Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) 6-1 4-6 4-6 7-5 6-3; (23) Fernando Gonzalez (Chi) bt Igor Andreev (Rus) 7-5 6-2 6-3; (25) Juan Ignacio Chela (Arg) bt Gregory Carraz (Fra) 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 7-6 (7-3); Jean-Rene Lisnard (Fra) bt (14) Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) 1-6 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-3; (32) Jurgen Melzer (Aut) bt Nathan Healey (Aus) 6-3 6-2 7-6 (7-3); (6) Guillermo Coria (Arg) bt Ricardo Mello (Bra) 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-3); Christophe Rochus (Bel) bt (26) Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) 6-4 6-4 6-2; (9) David Nalbandian (Arg) bt Santiago Ventura (Spa) 6-0 6-3 2-6 6-2; (7) Tim Henman (Brit) bt Victor Hanescu (Rom) 7-5 6-1 6-4; (3) Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) bt James Blake (USA) 4-6 7-6 (10-8) 6-0 6-3; (31) Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa) bt Mariano Zabaleta (Arg) 6-1 6-2 6-0; (2) Andy Roddick (USA) bt Greg Rusedski (Brit) 6-0 3-6 6-2 6-3.
WOMEN'S SINGLES
Second round: (25) Lisa Raymond (USA) bt Klara Koukalova 6-0 6-1; Abigail Spears (USA) bt (20) Tatiana Golovin (Fra) 7-5 6-1; (3) Anastasia Myskina (Rus) bt Tzipora Obziler (Isr) 6-4 6-2; (14) Francesca Schiavone (Ita) bt Tatiana Perebiynis (Ukr) 2-6 6-3 6-0; (1) Lindsay Davenport (USA) bt Michaela Pastikova (Cze) 2-6 6-2 6-2; (26) Daniela Hantuchova (Svk) bt Barbara Schett (Aut) 6-4 6-0; (13) Karolina Sprem (Cro) bt Tathiana Garbin (Ita) 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-2); (27) Anna Smashnova (Isr) bt Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) 6-2 6-2; Nicole Vaidisova (Cze) bt (31) Jelena Kostanic (Cro) 6-0 7-5; (8) Venus Williams (USA) bt Shuai Peng (Chn) 6-3 6-1; (6) Elena Dementieva (Rus) bt Anna Chakvetadze (Rus) 6-2 6-1; Tatiana Panova (Rus) bt (23) Jelena Jankovic (Scg) 3-6 6-4 6-2; (12) Patty Schnyder (Sui) bt Michaella Krajicek (Ned) 3-6 6-3 6-4; (19) Nathalie Dechy (Fra) bt Mashona Washington (USA) 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2; (18) Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) bt Evie Dominikovic (Aus) 6-3 2-6 6-3; (10) Alicia Molik (Aus) bt Aiko Nakamura (Jpn) 6-2 6-4.
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