D-day for Rusedski
Greg Rusedski will be trying to finish a job started by Lleyton Hewitt 12 months ago when he faces Pete Sampras for a place in the fourth round of the US Open today. After surviving a tortuous passage on Friday, the British number two now has the chance to push out of the world's top 50 the record winner of grand-slam titles.
Sampras has been a pale shadow of his former self since Hewitt thrashed him in last year's final. Admittedly the four-times champion in New York has made impressive progress to the last 32, but Rusedski threatens to provide his first real test. In earning his shot at Sampras, the Briton firmly believes that he laid a string of ghosts to rest with his dramatic second-round win over Paradorn Srichaphan.
While Sampras was safely back in the locker room after a 6-3 7-5 6-4 win over Denmark's Kristian Pless, Rusedski was on the verge of throwing it all away against an opponent he is likely to face again later this month when Britain play Thailand for a place in the world group of the Davis Cup. It was as though Rusedski could not cope with the intolerable pressure he has heaped on himself with his desperate quest for success at this US Open.
Against Srichaphan, each time the finish line came within sight, Rusedski stumbled under the weight of expectation. He allowed himself to be distracted by foot faults, the partisan crowd and the flashy brilliance of his opponent. But as the clock struck midnight, Rusedski volleyed the winner that signalled an end to three and three-quarter hours of torture. He had come back from 15-40 at 5-4 in a final set that he had led 4-0 and 5-1 and completed a 3-6 7-6 7-6 6-7 6-4 victory.
Echoes of his fourth-round defeat to Todd Martin in 1999, when he led 2-0 in sets and then 4-1 in the fourth only to lose in five, had been ringing in his ears as he threatened to melt down before a volatile, multicultural crowd in Friday night's decider.
But Rusedski claims that they were silenced with the backhand volley that sealed victory. 'I've lost a lot of tough matches here in five sets,' he said. 'It's finally good to get through that ghost - that was big for me mentally. You are thinking to yourself: "OK, let's relax; let's try to get this thing done." I stayed with it, took my time and came up with the goods.'
So now Rusedski sets his sights on the winner of a record 13 grand-slam titles and a player he beat in the final of the Paris Indoor tournament in 1998 to secure the biggest title of his career. And the Canadian-born Briton is confident that he can beat Sampras again in what is a far bigger match for both men.
'He knows he's got a lot on the line here. If he doesn't do well at the Open, he's going to be down to 50 in the world. He knows he has to play well,' Rusedski said of today's opponent. 'I'm looking forward to it. A lot of the guys in the locker room feel they can beat him now - that invincibility isn't there. Pete had that for so long. He's a great player, but he used to walk in the locker room and get himself one or two games a set - now he's not getting that from the guys.'
Tim Henman is contemplating a wholesale change of tactics from those that took him past Dick Norman on Friday for today's third-round clash with Juan Ignacio Chela. The British number one plans to return to his serve-and-volley instincts to try to counter the in-form Argentine who reached the final of the Long Island tournament last week.
This will be their first meeting on a surface other than clay, with Henman having beaten Chela in their most recent clash, in Monte Carlo this year. Even though that was achieved on the sport's slowest surface, the Briton will want to make the most of what to him should be a more favourable environment.
'I'm going to have to play better,' Henman said after reflecting on his victory over Norman in which he was happy to trade at the baseline and wait for errors from the Belgian. 'I'm going to have to serve and volley and serve more consistently, and that's going to test out my shoulder a lot more, but I'm optimistic.
'It's a pretty good court at this year's Open. It's pretty much in the middle, not too fast, not too slow. It gives everybody a chance to play whatever style of game they would like. I think the weather is obviously going to play a part. It's been cool and that makes it a little slower, so hopefully when I play Chela it'll be a little warmer and things will liven up.'
The inflamed tendons that are causing such discomfort in Henman's right shoulder may prove to be his undoing, particularly if Chela, the twenty-sixth seed, can force a lengthy contest. But while the injury is an inevitable physical handicap, it has helped with the fifth seed's mental approach.
'It's strange in a way, playing with a little bit of uncertainty of one's health. I feel it has changed my mindset,' Henman said. 'I'm more relaxed on the court, I don't feel like I've got anything to lose. If I can play good tennis, I feel like I can win. If things don't go according to plan with my shoulder, well that's just the way it goes.'
The draw shows little sign of opening up, with Andy Roddick likely to await the winner at the last-16 stage, but thus far both Britons will be delighted that they remain on a quarter-final collision course. If they both win today, it might just happen.
· Iain Carter is tennis correspondent for BBC Radio