Henman fit to take on a giant
Tim Henman continues to have treatment on his injured right shoulder, but there were apparently no further complications after his easy straight- sets first-round victory over Tuomas Ketola on Wednesday. Henman, the No5 seed, is due to play his second-round match against Belgium's Dick Norman today although heavy and prolonged rain severely disrupted yesterday's schedule.
Play did not get underway until late afternoon when Jennifer Capriati, the No3 seed, who is chasing her first US Open title, eased into the last 32 with 6-4, 6-2 second-round victory over Tina Pisnik of Slovenia. Shortly afterwards Lindsay Davenport, the No4 seed, also reached the third round when she completed a rain-interrupted 6-4, 6-2 win against Hungary's Petra Mandula.
Andre Agassi overwhelmed his fellow American Justin Gimelstob 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 in an hour and six minutes, while Lleyton Hewitt, the reigning champion, also won in straight sets against Noam Okun of Israel, although Okun served for the first set at 6-5 and had a set point in the tiebreak before going down 7-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Hewitt next plays James Blake of the US who defeated Nikolay Davidenko of Russia 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the second round. Last year here Hewitt struggled to defeat the 22-year-old Blake, and became embroiled in a protracted row with officials, during which he accused a black linesman of favouring the young American, although he later denied any racist slur.
Norman, who is a towering 6ft 8in, quit the ATP Tour for nearly two years in 1998, having failed to force his way into the top 100, despite reaching the last 16 at Wimbledon in 1995 where he beat two former champions, Stefan Edberg of Sweden and Australia's Pat Cash before losing to Boris Becker.
He reached the first round at here for the first time via the qualifiers. Norman, 31, lost the first two sets against Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic before winning 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, 6-4.
Henman, who is taking anti-inflammatories, admitted that the injury probably needed extended rest, which may put him in doubt for Britain's Davis Cup tie against Thailand in Birmingham next month.