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MELBOURNE, Jan 22 - Seventh seed Tim Henman's
unhappy run at the Australian Open continued when he was upset
6-4 6-2 6-2 by 26th seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko in the
third round on Saturday, ending British hopes in the tournament.
Henman surrendered a surprisingly one-sided match in just
126 minutes against Davydenko, who had never made it past the
second round in two previous visits to Melbourne but has now
reached the round of 16 at a grand slam for the first time.
The 30-year-old Briton began badly when he shanked a
forehand out of court to hand Davydenko a break of serve in the
opening game to set the tone for a dismal display One the Briton's few bright moments came early in the second
set when Henman, wrong-footed after a poor volley was punished,
stuck his racket behind his back and luckily made enough contact
to push the ball past Davydenko. However, the contest soon slipped away from the former
French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open semi-finalist, who has
played in Melbourne nine times since 1996 but has reached the
fourth round only three times. The subdued Briton lost his serve twice in the second set as
Davydenko grew in confidence. The third set followed a similar pattern with Davydenko
grabbing another break in the first game and then again in the
seventh. Henman's impotent performance all but silenced the "Barmy
Army" of British fans who had been singing loudly and happily at
the start of a match he had been expected to win after beating
Davydenko in their two previous encounters in 2003. The Russian will now take on 12th seed Guillermo Canas, who
beat unseeded Czech Radek Stepanek 6-1 6-2 6-2.
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