Henman in top form as he sweeps past Gambill

Tim Henman reached the second round of the Pacific Life Open here in California with a 7-5, 6-2 win over the American Jan-Michael Gambill.

The British No 1 won 84 per cent of points on his first serve and eventually made the decisive break of a keenly-contested first set. He was even more impressive in the second as he rattled off 10 consecutive points to seal the match, twice breaking Gambill's serve.

Henman, who now faces Agustin Calleri, of Argentina, in the second round after he beat Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti, appeared in full control as he continued his rehabilitation from a shoulder injury.

On a hot day in the desert with temperatures reaching 90F, three men retired from first-round matches with gastro intestinal problems. Spain's Felix Mantilla was down 6-7, 6-4, 4-1 in his match against the fourth seeded Swiss Roger Federer, while Argentina's Gaston Gaudio was forced to pull out when trailing 4-0 to Chile's Marcelo Rios and Finland's Jarkko Nieminen quit at 6-2, 0-1 down to Spain's Tommy Robredo.

In the women's event, the defending champion, Daniela Hantuchova, could not take the heat applied by Amanda Coetzer in the fourth round, the Slovak losing to the 16th seed 6-4, 6-4. The third seed could not find the consistency that took her to her first title here last year, committing 59 unforced errors to 33 from her South African opponent. The 19-year-old said: "I'd start the point well then I wasn't aggressive enough."