Henman resists rout of the seeds

Tim Henman moved comfortably into the second round of the CA Trophy in Vienna last night with an emphatic 6-3, 6-1 victory over the Swiss Marc Rosset. The sixth-seeded Briton became only the second seed to survive the first hurdle, as the tournament suffered the highest total of seeded players to lose in the first round of any ATP Tour event in 2000.

Tim Henman moved comfortably into the second round of the CA Trophy in Vienna last night with an emphatic 6-3, 6-1 victory over the Swiss Marc Rosset. The sixth-seeded Briton became only the second seed to survive the first hurdle, as the tournament suffered the highest total of seeded players to lose in the first round of any ATP Tour event in 2000.

Thomas Enqvist set the ATP record earlier in the day when he became the sixth seeded player to bow out. The Swede retired with a foot injury when the Czech Slava Dosedel was5-3 up in the first set. Other seeded casualties were the No 1, Marat Safin of Russia, the Swede Magnus Norman, Russia's Olympic champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov, and the Spaniards Alex Corretja and Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Apart from Henman, the eighth-seeded Frenchman, Cedric Pioline, is the only other surviving seed at the event.

The 26-year-old British No 1 could boost his chances of sealing one of the eight berths at the lucrative Tennis Masters Cup in Lisbon next month with a victory in Vienna. He is heading for a meeting with his fellow countryman and the defending champion, Greg Rusedski, in the quarter-finals. But first Henman needs to see off Fabrice Santoro, of France, while Rusedski, the conqueror of Kafelnikov in the first round, has to overcome Fernando Vicente of Spain.

A television crew from the French television station M6 were expelled from the Swisscom Challenge yesterday after the organisers ruled that they had harassed Anna Kournikova. The Women's Tennis Association took away the crew's accreditation and had them removed from the tournament hotel.

"They didn't take no for an answer," explained the WTA vice-president of communications, Chris DeMaria. "They staked her out in the hotel. When a player says no to something they are not required to do, it should be respected."

The WTA said it was the first time it had been forced to take such action to protect Kournikova. The tournament organisers claimed that the crew had been aggressive and had gained an unauthorised interview with the Russian.