Henman inches towards Shanghai

How's the baby, Tim? How's the shoulder, Tim? Distractions can be useful if they help a player to concentrate on the next point rather than the points at the end of the week. Tim Henman started the last lap of the race to Shanghai in competent fashion at the Paris Masters yesterday, defeating Radek Stepanek, a Czech qualifier, 6-1, 7-5, and wisely left others to do the calculations.

"Not to say I don't know what's going on, but I'm here to try my best and not think about things too much," Henman said, having strengthened his position in seventh place, the last spot guaranteed in the eight-man Masters Cup field. "In the last couple of years I've paid way more attention to it. I've gone into matches thinking that, 'If I win this, and he loses that, I overtake him,' and that doesn't do you any good. But in the last couple of weeks I've obviously been distracted, but in the best possible way. And I think, professionally, that probably could help me a little bit."

Henman's daughter, Rosie, is thriving. His shoulder is "looking forward to a break, but I'd like to push it for another couple of weeks yet." If he wins his next match against Nicolas Escude in the third round today, the immediate pressure may be off. But the British No 1 is likely to encounter a frantic atmosphere in the Palais Omnisports when he faces the French hero of last year's Davis Cup final only weeks before their defence of the trophy against Russia in this same arena.

Escude, who defeated Albert Costa, the French Open champion, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, is not a Masters Cup contender, but that will be of little consequence to the boisterous spectators. Escude leads Henman, 5-4, but the Briton has won their last three matches this year, including last week's second-round meeting in Basle.

Henman's display against Stepanek was solid enough to bring him his 50th win of the year, although the Czech rarely produced the flashes of inspiration that enabled him to overcome Gustavo Kuerten, the three-times French Open champion, in the first round. Henman won the first set in only 26 minutes, breaking in the second and sixth games.

Had Henman been able to convert any of four break points he held in the third game of the second set, his domination probably would have continued. Instead, Stepanek raised his game and his confidence and could claim a degree of injustice after some debatable line calls. Henman broke for 6-5 and served out the match after an hour and 25 minutes.

His Masters Cup cause benefited yesterday when Jiri Novak's challenge came to a standstill. The Czech was defeated, 6-1, 6-3, by Andrei Pavel, of Romania, which left him only four points ahead of Henman. Novak, who has had a groin strain, said the injury would not keep him out of Shanghai if he qualifies. Argentina's David Nalbandian, the runner-up at Wimbledon, is out of the picture after losing to Marat Safin, 6-3, 6-2. The Russian's victory secured his place in Shanghai.