Tennis: Chang ends Henman charge

The scoreline and the statistics told the full, sad story for Tim Henman yesterday as the world No 2, Michael Chang, progressed to the last 16 of the Australian Open here. A 6-1, 7-6, 6-3 victory for the 24-year-old American over Britain's rising star put Henman's superb start to the season in better perspective. He is good, but he is not the finished article yet.

Having added a big serve to his game, experience is now the main thing the 22-year-old Henman needs and the lessons Jim Courier and Chang have taught him in his only two defeats this year should help him to fulfil his enormous potential.

Over the past three weeks, he has won 11 of 13 matches, moved up from 29th to 14th in the world rankings, reached his first ATP Tour final and then took his first title on the circuit.

"I always focus on the positive. I'll forget about this performance and think about the start to the year," he said. "It won't take me long to see I am moving in the right direction.

"I think I can learn from this match and I will get over the disappointment quickly. It was a bad day at the office. I played a poor match. It's as simple as that.

"It's always disappointing to lose, but it's more the manner of it. I don't think it's anything to do with nerves. I never really got anything going.

"I didn't serve well and that makes life difficult. And I didn't get any rhythm on the baseline. At times I went for a little bit too much on certain shots and was making errors, yet having said the performance was poor, I could have been a set-all."

After Chang ran away with the last five games of the first set, Henman led 4-1 in the second and then, after losing his serve, broke again for 5-3. The record crowd, including a small, but noisy "Barmy Army", watched him serve for the set but the chance went in a flash. A volley over the baseline and three shots into the net gave Chang the game to love and last year's runner-up won the next four points as well to level.

Henman began the tie-break by double-faulting, one of six he had in the match, Chang won it easily 7-3 and, after seven games went with serve in the third set, Henman lost the next to love, double-faulting again to put Chang 5-3 ahead. Minutes later it was over.

He knew he was the underdog against the quickest man in tennis but Henman, a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon last year, knew he could have played much better. He got in only 45 per cent of his first serves, 14 per cent down on his second-round match with Guillaume Raoux. He served only three aces, compared to 11 against Raoux.

Both players had six break points. Chang took five of his, Henman only two. Chang won 68 per cent of the points on his second serve, Henman a mere 37 per cent of his. The British No 1 made 40 unforced errors compared to 14 from Chang.

Chang, still to drop a set in the championship, was generous in victory. "There were times when Tim hit some great forehands and he is a very talented player," he said after their first meeting. "He's still very young and has a very bright future ahead of him."

Henman added: "That I didn't take my chances adds to the frustration. The Barmy Army are always a great help and I'm disappointed I didn't give them more to cheer. But it [their presence] shows that I am beginning to make an impact.

"It's been a busy time for me, but it's proving that all the work I'm doing off the court is paying dividends. I still feel fresh." He will nevertheless enjoy the short rest he is now taking. His next appearance is in Dubai next month.

For the second round running Steffi Graf climbed out of a hole to stay on course for a fifth Australian Open title. The world No 1 was 5-2 down to world No 98 Ines Gorrochategui but won the next five games and took the second set 6-3.

On Wednesday Graf, now on a run of 45 successive victories at the four major championships, lost the first four games to Larisa Neiland and had to save a set point before coming through 7-5, 6-2.

"I'm not happy with the way I am starting, but when it gets down to the important points I am focusing more," Graf said. "I just need to do it earlier." She next plays 12th seed Amanda Coetzer, the South African who ended Graf's 32-match unbeaten tournament run in 1995.

The fifth and seventh seeds, Anke Huber and Lindsay Davenport respectively, had much easier days. Huber, her mother now out of hospital after collapsing on Wednesday, beat Natasha Zvereva 7-5, 6-0 and Olympic champion Davenport overwhelmed Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-1, 6-0.

The Wimbledon runner-up, Mal Washington, and ninth seed Marcelo Rios, of Chile, came back from a set down to advance to the last 16. Washington beat Australian Todd Woodbridge 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 and Rios beat Austria's Gilbert Schaller 4-6, 7-6, 6-1, 6-1.

Unseeded Spaniard Carlos Moya, the man who knocked out the defending champion Boris Becker on Monday and who Britain's Tim Henman beat in the final in Sydney last Saturday, thrashed German Bernd Karbacher in straight sets, dropping just two games in each.

Britain's Neil Broad, with whom Henman won Olympic silver in Atlanta, reached the last 16 of the men's doubles with South African Piet Norval. The 16th seeds beat Pat Cash and Czech Petr Korda 6-7, 7-6, 6-3.

Mary Pierce photograph, page 29