Henman reaches the last eight

Tim Henman, the British No 1, came from behind to win a tight and tense two and a half hour battle with the Dutchman Jan Siemerink to reach the quarter-finals of the Lyon Grand Prix yesterday.

The Wimbledon quarter- finalist won the second-round match 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 after being a set and 4-1 down, then said he had taken better advantage of the few really decisive points. ``When you're both serving well, the match turns on a few points that you must take advantage of and I took better advantage tonight," said Henman, the world No 32 who is ranked eight places above Siemerink.

Richard Krajicek and Steffi Graf, the current Wimbledon singles champions, both had victories yesterday. The Dutchman Krajicek beat Australia's Patrick Rafter 6-4, 6-2 in the Singapore Open and advanced to the quarter-finals.

Graf lost the first set against Austria's Judith Wiesner before winning 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the Leipzig women's tournament.

The organisers of the Australian Open announced yesterday that next year's women's singles champion would have to accept a pay cut.

The men's singles champion at the first Grand Slam tournament of the year will receive pounds 305,000, an increase of pounds 12,000 over the prize-money handed to Boris Becker for his victory this year. The women's champion next January will get pounds 282,000 - pounds 10,500 less than was earned by Monica Seles this year.

The organisers' decision to pay men more than women in the 1997 tournament after six years of equality provoked threats of a boycott by leading women players. The Olympic champion, Lindsay Davenport, described the move as a "huge step backwards''.

Mark Miles, the ATP Tour chief executive, has warned players they could face immediate default for abusive on-court behaviour in future. In an open letter to the players Miles praises them for their support of community projects, but reminds them they must be responsible for their conduct.