TENNIS: Henman recovers his form in time

TIM HENMAN moved into the last 16 of the Swiss Indoor Championship in Basle with a three-set victory over Australian Jason Stoltenberg yesterday.

Henman lost the first set 6-2 to the former Wimbledon semi-finalist but battled back and won the next two sets 6-3, 6-4 to take the first-round match. The British No 1, who won the Swiss Indoor doubles title last season with Marc Rosset, faces the Moroccan, Hich-am Arazi tomorrow.

The Australian Open champion, Petr Korda, was toppled by Germany's Nicolas Kiefer. Kiefer, ranked No 32 in the world, cruised past the third-seed Czech to win 6-2, 6-4. "It's very satisfying to win against the world No 5," said Kiefer. "I served well and was very aggressive. It's likely due to my last three weeks of training." In other first-round play, fifth- seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia defeated Sweden's Magnus Norman 7- 5, 6-3.

Goran Ivanisevic admitted to "almost falling asleep" during his first round win over New Zealander Brett Steven in the Shanghai Open. The jet- lagged Croatian took the match 6-4, 7-6. "I hadn't slept for three days. I don't think I would have won if it had gone to a third set," said Ivanisevic.

Venus Williams, fresh from her lucrative victory at the Grand Slam Cup, and sister Serena advanced to the second round of the Porsche Grand Prix in Germany. Venus beat Silvia Farina of Italy 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, and Serena defeated Kveta Hrdlickova 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-0.