The Hindu : Henman struggles past Lapentti

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 01, 2003

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Henman struggles past Lapentti

Munich April 30. Tim Henman shrugged off his winter shoulder surgery, opening his spring clay season at the last possible moment on Tuesday with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 first-round win over Nicolas Lapentti at the 400,000-Euro BMW Open.

Three weeks into the start of the clay campaign, the 28-year-old was playing his first match in a month after a slow return during February and March on indoor and cement.

He only entered Munich as a wild card after a computer scan gave him an all clear sign to begin truly testing the success of his November surgery. Henman needed to find his way against Ecuador's Lapentti, a clay-court specialist who had never met the Briton on the surface.

Going into the contest at the Iphitos club, Henman held a 4-1 lead, with the South American's only victory coming two years ago.

Henman, a four-time Wimbledon semifinalist, emerged successful after more than two hours as he played his first contest since Miami in mid-March. The seventh seed improved his Munich record to 2-1 as he made his first appearance here in five years.

Henman's morale-boosting win was his second of the season after beating American Jan-Michael Gambill at Indian Wells last month. Lapentti was unable to consolidate after levelling the match by winning the second set, in the wake of Henman's success in the 61-minute opener.

The Ecuadorian reached the quarterfinals here a year ago, where he lost to Czech Radek Stepanek. Lapentti's best showing this season has been a relatively modest fourth round in Miami.

The results: Rainer Schuettler bt Jurgen Melzer 6-4, 6-3; Tim Henman bt Nicolas Lapentti 7-5, 4-6, 6-1; Harel Levy bt Kenneth Carlsen 6-3, 6-1; Nikolay Davydenko bt Cecil Mamiit 7-5, 6-1; Raemon Sluiter bt Renzo Furlan 7-5, 6-4; Radek Stepanek bt Olivier Mutis 6-3, 6-2; Jean-Rene Lisnard bt Martin Verkerk 6-2, 6-4; Roger Federer bt Zeljko Krajan 6-4, 6-3; Mikhail Youzhny bt Jan Frode Andersen 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. — AP

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