Henman foiled by Nalbandian

Tim Henman was dumped out of the Masters Tennis Series here last night night by the Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian.

Henman, the No 4 seed, failed to convert three match points in the second set and was made to pay for his mistake as the Argentinian 15th seed eventually took the match 4-6 ,7-6, 7-5 to book his place in the quarter-finals.

Henman got off to a shaky start and was broken in the third game as Nalbandian settled quickly into his stride. But the British No 1 fought back to 4-3 down before winning the remaining three games to take the first set 6-4.

The opening games of the second set went with serve. But, as in the first, Nalbandian broke the Henman serve in the third game. But the Briton levelled at 4-4 and the set went to a tie-break. Henman took a 6-3 lead, but Nalbandian saved three match points before a superb cross-court backhand volley clinched the tie-break 9-7.

In a gripping third set, Henman finally lost his serve at 6-5 down when Nalbandian sent a fierce backhand past him to take the set and the match after two hours and 50 minutes.

Officials had to separate Andy Roddick and Nicolas Lapentti after the American's 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 second-round win over the Ecuadorean ended in an ugly shouting match. As the two players left the court at the end of a two-hour 18-minute match played in searing heat, Lapentti accused Roddick of exaggerating leg cramps late in the third set. Officials stepped in to separate the pair, as they argued at the net, and escorted Lapentti off the court.