Tennis: Rusedski and Henman blow out

THEIR Middle East challenge over, Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman packed their bags last night and headed for Australia in search of warmer weather and brighter results. The Britons were defeated in the quarter- finals of the $1m Qatar Mobil Open: Rusedski as the No 1 seed, and Henman endeavouring to at least match last year's appearance in the final.

Although both players lost in three sets, Henman could take more encouragement from his performance against Petr Korda, the Czech No 3 seed, than Rusedski could from his match against the Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, the world No 29, who out-smarted the big-serving left-hander.

Friday's washout of the singles left the organisers with little option but to rearrange the quarter-finals for yesterday afternoon, during the period of fasting for Ramadan, with the semi-finals to be played last night, as scheduled. The tournament director requested that the television cameras avoided showing pictures of the players taking refreshment during change-overs in the afternoon matches. Judging by some of calls, the local line judges must have been tired and hungry, not that Rusedski and Henman had too much to complain about beyond their own shortcomings.

Rusedski, beaten 6-2 3-6 6-3, did not serve or volley with enough conviction to deter Santoro, a clever player who hits two-handed shots on both wings and is capable of varying his tactics to suit the occasion. Rusedski knew that, having practised with the eighth-seeded Frenchman earlier in the tournament.

It was evident from the start that Rusedski was not about to blow Santoro off the court, and during the opening set, the Frenchman was to pick him off almost at will, moving his opponent about the court with an impressive range of drives down the line, drop shots and lobs.

Broken in the first game, Rusedski found himself 1-4 down after smashing the ball into the net because of a combination of Santoro's lobbing, Rusedski's balance and a wind that was tricky without carrying the force of previous days in the Gulf.

Having lost the opening set in only 25 minutes, Rusedski appeared to have more confidence in his serve, holding to love in the first game of the second set and dropping only one point in breaking Santoro and serving to lead, 3-0.

It was the Frenchman's turn to see a set go against him in 25 minutes, but he persisted with his endeavours to wrong-foot his opponent in the final set by forcing Rusedski to play low volleys. Santoro saved two break points when leading 3-1 and then broke for 5-1. When serving for the match, the Frenchman was warned for unsportsmanlike conduct after making an air shot at the referee while disputing a call. Santoro then lobbed over the baseline to lose his serve. Although Rusedski held for 5-3, Santoro served out to love.

Henman lost 7-5 4-6 6-4 and also struggled with his first serve, but managed to engage the 29-year-old Korda in a fascinating duel of fine shot-making. The British No 2 exchanged breaks with Korda at the start of the match and then broke to love for 4-3, only to lose impetus after saving five break points when serving for the set at 5-4. A netted backhand approach on the sixth break point enabled Korda to level at 5-5, and Korda converted the second of two set points two games later.

Although the Czech won his fifth game in a row at the start of the second set, Henman made a splendid recovery, saving three break points in the fourth game and making the only break of the set for 4-3.

In the final set, Henman fought back from 0-3 to 3-3, and the result was in the balance until Henman netted a forehand for 30-40 in the 10th game and Korda lured him into netting a backhand by returning a second serve on the match point.

Henman is due to begin the defence of his Sydney International title on Tuesday with a match against the Australian left-hander Mark Woodforde. Rusedski will join Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi in a exhibition tournament in Melbourne before the Australian Open which begins a week tomorrow.