Henman's failings exposed by Malisse

Having lost to Xavier Malisse and his string quartet here yesterday, Tim Henman swallowed hard and began the familiar process of clearing the French clay out of his mind and replacing it with the vision of a soothing stretch of English lawn.

As usual, the British No 1 did not leave Paris unscathed. Recriminations over his second round defeat by Malisse, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6, 6-3, may run for days. Henman's gifted, 21-year-old Belgian opponent played like a dream in the opening set, but was there to be beaten in the third and early in the fourth. In the end, however, Henman's supporters on Court Suzanne Lenglen could only hope that Malisse would either lose his nerve or run out of rackets, having already broken the strings in four.

Parallels were drawn with the disappointment of Henman's defeat by Jonas Bjorkman, of Sweden, in the third round of the Australian Open in January, albeit on rubberised concrete. Henman was having none of it. "My performance in Australia was very poor," he said, "but today there was a lot of good tennis from both of us, but his was better than mine."

In their only previous match, in the third round at last year's United States Open, Malisse had Henman's former coach, David Felgate in his corner. Henman led 3-0 in the fifth set, but was unable to press his advantage in a tricky wind. Malisse recovered and won 6-4.

Some of yesterday's rallies were breathtaking, and the momentum swings made for a compelling contest. But when Malisse, No 38 in the tournament entry system, showed clear signs of buckling, Henman failed to nail his advantage. After three hours of striving, the sixth seed from Oxfordshire was left with the indignity of losing his last four service games.

The crux came in the middle of the third set. Henman created a break point for 5-2, but hit a forehand wide. Malisse held for 4-3, and then broke for 4-4. In that eighth game, with Henman leading, 30-15, a Malisse backhand hit the net cord with such force that the ball landed "dead" on Henman's court. Henman then scooped a forehand half-volley long and netted a backhand.

Malisse's progress to the tie-break was threatened at 5-5. Henman took him to deuce with a net cord deflection. The Belgian then put a backhand wide after breaking a string, but swept the break point away after changing his racket.

Henman won the opening two points of the shoot-out, but was unable to subdue Malisse – although a net cord at 4-6 took the Belgian to set point, which he converted for 7-4. "When you hit the number of shots that you do, there's bound to be a rub of the green," Henman said philosophically. "But I think over three hours it probably levels itself out."

Malisse broke a fourth string while attempting to convert a break point in the opening game of the fourth set, Henman salvaging the point with a lob. Henman broke for 2-0, Malisse pausing to place his racket on the ground and use it as a trampoline to try and loosen the tension in the strings.

Whatever success Malisse had easing his strings, the pressure switched to Henman, who was broken for 2-1. He recovered the break for 3-1, only to double-fault for 3-2, after which Malisse was unstoppable. He broke twice more, in the seventh and ninth games, and advanced to meet Albert Portas, of Spain, in the third round.

Henman, who deliberately took a fraction of pace off his first serve in favour of accuracy during the clay-court season, may have played into Malisse's flexible hands. "Tim hits a lot of first serves in, but they're not the fastest," the Belgian said. "I have a feeling I can always somehow get his serve back and make him volley. After that, I think it's just 50-50."

"You have to give him credit," Henman said. "I felt I served really consistently for two and a half sets, and still he's making a lot of returns and forcing me to hit good volleys. He's consistent from the baseline, and when he does come to the net he's perfectly capable."

Henman is now on the road to Wimbledon: "I'll have a couple of days to recharge my batteries, clear my head, and change my focus, and I'll look forward to preparing well for Queen's." A nation waits.