Tennis: Henman foils Agassi in comeback match

Tim Henman wrecked Andre Agassi's comeback with a 6-4 6-4 win in the first round of the Stella Artois tennis championships this morning.

The 36-year-old Agassi has suffered back problems for a number of years and chose to skip the claycourt season to conserve energy for his grasscourt campaign.

The 12th seed's bid to get match fit for a second tilt at the Wimbledon title suffered a setback, however, when he was outclassed by the British favourite on a hot and sultry day at Queen's Club.

Having been out of action for three months, Agassi would not have wanted his first match to be against a serve-and-volleyer who thrives on the slick surface.

But with four-times Wimbledon semifinalist Henman arriving at the tournament as an unseeded player for the first time in a decade, Agassi was drawn to play the one opponent he would like to have avoided in the opening round.

"It's hard enough coming back from a few months without playing, let alone to play a style like Tim's," the American, who has not competed at Wimbledon since 2003, said.

"If you're uncomfortable, he'll expose you out there. That's what happened."

Henman, who has not won a title for almost three years, agreed: "On the whole I did a good job of setting the tone and making sure that I was the one dictating play."

Henman, whose ranking has plummeted to 76th as he too has struggled with back injuries, quickly buried memories of his miserable run on clay.

Time and again he left Agassi flat-footed at the baseline with his acute angled volleys and scorching winners.

After trading breaks early in the opening set, Henman suffocated the Las Vegan in the seventh game with his attacking tactics from the net.

That break proved decisive and the 31-year-old Briton sealed the set with a blazing forehand winner.

Any hopes of an Agassi recovery were quickly quashed when Henman broke the American's serve in the opening game of the second set.

After being given the run-around for 74 minutes, the eight-times grand slam champion slipped on match point and ended up flat on his back across the baseline as Henman's match-winning shot whizzed past.

"It's the first match in a long time (and) wasn't terribly pretty," smiled Agassi.

"It wasn't as good as I'd hoped but I suppose it could have been worse."

Henman was the only local winner on the opening day after British number one Greg Rusedski and Martin Lee both exited.

Rusedski quit while trailing Frenchman Antony Dupuis 5-7 6-3 3-2 with a hip injury. France's Gael Monfils, seeded 13th, was a 7-6 7-6 winner over Juergen Melzer.

French Open winner Rafael Nadal makes his debut at the tournament later in the week along with three-times defending champion Andy Roddick and Australian Lleyton Hewitt, who has also triumphed three times at the west London club.

The top eight seeds have a bye into the second round.

- REUTERS