TennisTim Henman continued his recent run of good form with a comfortable 6-2, 6-3 victory over Christophe Rochus of Belgium in the first round of the Swiss Indoors in Basle.

Henman, who reached the final and quarter-final of recent tour events in Tokyo and Bangkok respectively, raced into a 3-0 lead against the world number 68. The 27-year-old Rochus cut the gap to 3-2, but the British number two forged to victory in the set without losing another game.

He gained the upper hand in the second set with a break in the fourth, which came thanks to a wayward forehand into the tramlines from Rochus.

Henman, ranked 38th in the world following a last-16 defeat at the Madrid Open last time out, held to make it 4-1 and the set moved with serve to 5-3.

Rochus hit a stunning crosscourt pass to win the first point of the ninth game on Henman's serve, but the man from Oxford responded with an emphatic ace.

Another ace, his eighth in the match, brought up match point at 40-30 and a ninth settled it.