Henman shoots down 'Donald Duck' Rosset

The clay courts at the Monte Carlo Country Club have not been dimpled by a British men's singles champion since Bunny Austin's triumphs in 1933 and 1934. However, Tim Henman took a small step in the right direction yesterday, ending 19 years of embarrassment by becoming the first British man to win a singles match here since Buster Mottram in 1981.

Henman, who won the Monte Carlo Open doubles title last year with the Frenchman Olivier Delaitre, defeated Marc Rosset, the Swiss gold medalist at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, 6-3, 6-2, to advance to the second round. The British No 1's next opponent is Juan Ignacio Chela, a 20-year-old Argentinian qualifier who learned to play on slow surfaces similar to the courts here and is good enough to have won the Mexico City tournament in February, defeating Gustavo Kuerten in the second round.

Chela is likely to prove a more awkward opponent than Rosset, if only in the sense that he is a natural on clay. Few competitors on the ATP Tour are more difficult (as in cussed) than Rosset, a gangling 6ft 7in with the sartorial style of Wurzel Gummidge and the patience of Basil Fawlty.

Henman knows Rosset well enough - having lost two of their three previous singles matches and partnered him in doubles - not to allow himself to be distracted by his antics, some of which would have left less serious opponents doubled up on the court, helpless with laughter. Warned for verbal abuse at the start of the second set, and then penalised a point for slamming his racket to the ground, Rosset treated the spectators on Court No 1 to a temper tantrum worthy of Donald Duck. He removed his cap, threw it to the ground, and trampled it into the clay.

Shortly before that, Rosset had a conversation on the court with Tom Barnes, the ATP Tour supervisor, in which he told the official that he was under the impression that the code of conduct rules had been relaxed this year to allow players to express themselves.

Henman sympathised with Rosset, at least in the case of his second offence. "I thought he was pretty unlucky with his racket abuse, because the racket didn't break and didn't endanger anyone, so to get a point penalty was harsh," Henman said. "But, from my point of view, having just broken serve, to start the [next] game at 15-love is a very nice cushion to have. I wasn't going to complain."

Rosset has lost four consecutive opening-round matches since defeating Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the final of the AXA Cup at the London Arena in February. "He's unpredictable," Henman said. "Sometimes I don't know whether he quite knows what is going to happen. But on his day he is capable of some great tennis."

There were moments of brilliance from Rosset yesterday, but he was unable to sustain his form, and Henman managed to out-rally him even in some of the longer exchanges.

Henman saved eight break points in the first set - at least one in each of his five service games - and he continued to frustrate Rosset in the second set without being taken beyond 30 in his four service games.

"Mentally you don't know what is going to happen with Marc, but also with his tennis," Henman said. "He has got a big serve and a big forehand, as everybody knows. It is an obvious tactic that you want to get to his backhand, but he stands a long way over and it seems like you have got a smaller target to aim at.

"Sometimes I made a couple of unforced errors trying to get to his backhand, but once I employed the tactic of going to his forehand first, that opened his backhand a lot more. I was pleased with a lot ofaspects of my game."

Kuerten, the defending champion, was a first-round loser, his mobility restricted by a strained back. The Brazilian, who won the French Open in 1997, was defeated by Karol Kucera, of Slovakia, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2.

Goran Ivanisevic's efforts to get his season off the ground were frustrated by Arnaud Clement, although the Frenchman needed nine match points to finish the job, 6-0, 6-7, 6-4.

The American Vince Spadea lost his eighth opening-round match in a row, falling to Mariano Zabaleta, of Argentina, 6-2, 1-6, 7-5. Spadea served for the match at 5-4 in the final set, but was broken to love.

Kafelnikov, seeded No 1 in the absence of Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, defeated the Czech Daniel Vacek, 6-3, 6-3, and spoke about retirement. "Definitely there are not many years left in my career," the 26-year-old Russian said. "Maybe three or four years where I feel like I can still win big tournaments."

At Hilton Head Island, in South Carolina, the American Erika de Lone scored an easy 6-3, 6-3 victory over Maureen Drake, of Canada. Another American, Tara Snyder, rallied from 4-1 and 5-3 down to beat Tina Pisnik, of Slovenia, 7-6, 6-3.

The 43-year-old nine-times Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova will partner the South African Mariaan de Swardt in the doubles at the Direct Line International Championships at Eastbourne.

The pair have been given a wild card for the tournament, which begins on 17 June. Navratilova, returning to the event after a six-year absence, has won 10 singles titles at Eastbourne as well as taking six successive doubles titles with Pam Shriver between 1981 and 1986. De Swardt, 29, from Johannesburg, won the Eastbourne doubles title with Jana Novotna in 1998.

The Lawn Tennis Association have confirmed Wimbledon as the venue for Great Britain's Davis Cup World Group Qualifying Round tie against Ecuador from 14 to 16 July. The tie, which begins less than a week after the conclusion of the All England Championships, will be played on the 11,000-seater No 1 Court.

Results from the $2.95 million Monte Carlo Open (seedings in parentheses):

First round

Dominik Hrbaty, Slovakia, def. Arnaud Di Pasquale, France, 6-2, 7-5 Tim Henman (7), Britain, def. Marc Rosset, Switzerland, 6-3, 6-2 Yevgeny Kafelnikov (1), Russia, def. Daniel Vacek, Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-3 Karim Alami, Morocco, def. Thomas Johansson, Sweden, 6-2, 6-4 Arnaud Clement, France, def. Goran Ivanisevic, Croatia, 6-0, 6-7 (6-8), 6-4 Alex Corretja (9), Spain, def. Alberto Berasategui, Spain, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 Magnus Norman (3), Sweden, def. Albert Portas, Spain, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 Franco Squillari, Argentina, def. Nicolas Lapentti (4), Ecuador, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) Mariano Zabaleta (15), Argentina, def. Vincent Spadea, United States, 6-2, 1-6, 7-5 Juan Chela, Argentina, def. Alex Lopez-Moron, Spain, 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5) Karol Kucera, Slovakia, def. Gustavo Kuerten (2), Brazil, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 Fernando Meligeni, Brazil, def. Andrea Gaudenzi, Italy, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 Hicham Arazi, Morocco, def. Tommy Haas (13), Germany, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 Richard Krajicek, Netherlands, def. Fernando Vicente, Spain, 7-5, 6-1 Albert Costa (12), Spain, def. Rainer Schuttler, Germany, 6-4, 6-4 Andrei Medvedev, Ukraine, def. Sebastien Grosjean, France, 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 Felix Mantilla, Spain, def. Marcel Rios (5), Chile, 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spain, def. Francisco Clavet, Spain, 6-2, 6-4 Sjeng Schalken, Netherlands, def. Jonas Bjorkman, Spain, 6-4, 6-2 Julien Boutter, France, def. Michael Chang, USA, 6-2, 6-4 Thomas Enqvist, Sweden, def. Cyril Saulnier, France, 6-3, 6-2