BRITISH number one Tim Henman made a confident start to 1997 yesterday when he coasted into the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open in Doha.
The 22-year-old from Oxford beat Egypt's Tamer El Sawy 6-3 6-2 to score his second recent success over the player ranked 149th in the world.
Henman, who beat the Egyptian 6-7 6-2 6-2 in a Davis Cup rubber on Wimbledon grass last September, needed just 31 minutes to take the first set and was even more impressive in the second.
It was an identical scoreline with which Henman disposed of Austrian qualifier Herbert Wiltschnig in the first round.
El Sawy beat third-seeded Dutchman Jan Siemerink, the world number 15, 6-3 6-7 7-6 in the first round after battling through the qualifying competition, but was unable to make any impression on the serve of Henman.
The result means that the British player will improve his present world ranking of 29.
Rankings are based on a player's best 14 tournaments during the past 12 months and Henman reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, the last 16 at the US Open, the semi-finals of six ATP Tour events and the quarter-finals at Nottingham the week before Wimbledon.
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