Henman crashes out

Tim Henman's preparations for the US Open were dealt a blow when he crashed out of the Toronto Masters.

Andre Agassi was another second-round casualty but it was plain sailing for Wimbledon champion Roger Federer and runner-up Andy Roddick.

British No1 Henman, the fifth seed, was beaten 7-5, 6-4 by Gustavo Kuerten. But the unseeded Brazilian had little time to celebrate as tournament organisers rushed through matches to make up for time lost to rain earlier in the week.

He was soon back on court and lost 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 to Czech qualifier Jan Hernych, who will now take on Roddick

Henman started confidently in his first tournament since Wimbledon, directing a controlled back-hand winner for the opening point. He had the first chance to take control of the game with a break point at 2-1 but Kuerten pulled out his big serve.

Henman approached the net whenever possible and had success chipping and charging - and he also made room for inside-out forehands down the line.

The fifth seed had two set-points at 5-4 after Kuerten had complained about a line call - but again the Brazilian produced a string of huge serves and survived.

Henman was made to rue this missed chance as Kuerten broke him in the next game with some fearsome returning.

The former world No1 kept his momentum going and held serve to take the opening set 7-5, wrapping it up with an ace.

Henman's next appearance could be at the Cincinnati Masters next week. Agassi, the 10th seed, fell 6-3 6-3 to Austrian Jurgen Melzer and said: "I never got comfortable. My problem out there was my opponent."

Melzer added: "I played the match of my life and made almost no errors."

But he didn't stop there. Within a couple of hours he put out Chile's Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals.

Federer began his day with a 7-5, 6-1 second-round win over Swede Robin Soderling before squeezing past Max Mirnyi, of Belarus, 7-6, 7-6. The Swiss world No1 will next face France's Fabrice Santoro, who put out ninth seed Lleyton Hewitt, of Australia, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Federer has now won all but one of his last 29 matches.

"I was happy I played Max in the second match because I knew there were not going to be any rallies," he told reporters.

"It was close. It could have gone either way but I think, again, like in the first match, I won the big points.

"It's tough to play two matches the same day. But that's OK now that I'm through and didn't lose too much energy." Roddick, the defending champion, had a tougher-than-expected time against Spain's Feliciano Lopez in his second-round match, progressing 6-3, 7-6.

"He served a ton," said Roddick. "The second set almost got away from me."

But the American found it a lot easier in the third round, romping past Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela 6-1, 6-4.

Fourth seed Carlos Moya, of Spain, was the victim of a thirdround upset, going down 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to Germany's Nicolas Kiefer.

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