Henman survives scare to overcome towering Norman

Having prevailed in his opening two matches here, Tim Henman is preparing to shoulder the wheel of fortune again tomorrow when he plays Juan Ignacio Chela, of Argentina, in the third round of the United States Open. Despite his dodgy right rotorcuff, the British No 1 is only one win away from equalling his par for the three Grand Slam courses outside Wimbledon.

While not operating on automatic pilot, Henman says his injury problem has concentrated his mind on simply hitting the ball cleanly instead of over-analysing his game. None the less, he would not be happy to leave Flushing Meadows with another fourth round appearance on his CV. "I don't think it's good enough for someone with my ranking and whose game is suited to this surface," Henman says.

After a gentle first round loosener against Tuomas Ketola, of Finland, Henman yesterday defeated Dick Norman, a giant Belgian redhead with a kicking left-handed serve, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5. Although he was on court for only one hour and 54 minutes, Henman knew he had been in a match.

"The shoulder was more fatigued," he said. "As the match progressed the shoulder stiffened up and got pretty tight. We'll just have to see how it reacts if I get into a very long match."

Chela is capable of providing one of those. A baseliner brought up on clay, he is hungry for success after being suspended for six months last year after testing positive for nandrolone. Henman has played him twice on clay in Monte Carlo, losing to him two years ago and beating him last April en route to the semi-finals.

The match will be a contrast from yesterday duel with Norman, a 31-year-old who took too many risks to be described as stubborn, but he did not let the fourth-seeded Henman have it all his own way. After losing the opening set in 32 minutes, Norman recovered a early break of serve in the second set, but was broken again for 4-5. Broken for 1-2 in the third set, Norman fought back to 4-4, courtesy of a Henman double-fault on break point. Henman struck decisively for 6-5.

Marat Safin, the second seed, slipped out of Henman's half of the draw yesterday, losing to Gustavo Kuerten 6-4, 6-4, 7-5. It has not been a happy week for the Russians.

The contrary Yevgeny Kafelnikov, a workaholic in terms of matches, but something of an underachiever in terms of major titles, capitulated in the second round, losing to Dominik Hrbaty, of Slovakia, another erratic performer, 6-3, 6-1, 6-1, on Thursday night.

Kafelnikov's reaction to this latest disappointment was to say that he would retire if Russia win the Davis Cup this year. The 26-year-old from the Black Sea resort of Sochi is due to join his compatriot Marat Safin in planning the downfall of Argentina in next month's semi-final in Moscow.

"I am motivated like I've never been motivated before," said Kafelnikov, insisting that his career would be fulfilled if he added the Davis Cup to his Olympic Games gold medal from Sydney and his Grand Slam singles triumphs at the French Open in 1996 and 1999.

A few eyebrows were raised at the fourth seed's sudden rush of enthusiasm given his results at the major championships this year, but that is the way with Kafelnikov, who is up one moment, down the next.

Kafelnikov was one of three seeds eliminated in the top half of the men's singles draw on Thursday. Albert Costa (8), the French Open champion, lost to Wayne Ferreira, of South Africa, and another Spaniard, Carlos Moya (9) was defeated by the American Jan-Michael Gambill. Meanwhile, Andre Agassi, the sixth seed, steamrollered the wildcard Justin Gimelstob for the loss of only two games.

Lleyton Hewitt, the world No 1, is likely to have a battle on his hands in his third-round match against James Blake, the American 25th seed who has established himself as a contender of substance since losing to the Australian in five sets last year.

Supported warmly by fans on a cold, damp night, Monica Seles regrouped after being two points from defeat and reached the third round by beating Barbara Schwartz, of Austria, 1-6, 7-6, 6-2.