Henman confident for battle of Britain

Tim Henman is confident of continuing his winning sequence against Greg Rusedski when they meet in round two of the Hamburg Masters tomorrow.

The British No1, seeded five, cruised through when outclassing Lars Burgsmuller 6-3, 6-4.

Rusedski had earlier claimed his first victory on clay in the best part of four years when he overcame German wildcard Philipp Petzschner 7-6, 3-6, 6-3.

Henman holds a 6-2 advantage over Rusedski after eight previous meetings on on the ATP Tour.

Rusedski did push his old rival all the way before going down in three sets in Dubai earlier this year, but you have to go back to 1998 for his last win over Henman.

"It always adds some extra spice when I play Greg, but I feel confident and I have been playing some really good tennis," said Henman.

The 30-year-old never reached top gear in cold, damp conditions but always appeared in control against Burgsmuller, winning the majority of the baseline encounters and looking at home on clay.

Henman's service game was impressive, hitting a high percentage of first serves in, and rarely looking troubled on his second.

The only thing that seemed to derail him was a lack of concentration. He had a number of disputes with the umpire over line calls and needed to remind the ball-boys to keep still during play.

"I felt the conditions were really tough," said Henman. "You've got to be positive in your mind, not let things upset you too much. I kept concentrating really well and I'm pleased to get the job done."

Rusedski secured his first win on clay since the 2001 French Open, and immediately expressed a desire to avenge his Dubai defeat.

He said: "I had two match points last time and should have won.

It should be a great match." World No1 Roger Federer eased his fitness fears with a straightsets win over Fernando Verdasco but the rest of the tournament was blown wide open by the defeat of American second seed Andy Roddick and withdrawal of Spanish sensation Rafael Nadal.

Roddick crashed out 7-6, 4-6, 7-5 to Chile's Olympic champion Nicolas Massu but remained optimistic about his chances in the forthcoming French Open. "I'm disappointed but you have to realise you are going to have bad days," he said. "It's a little disheartening. Losing sucks, there's no way round it, but it doesn't mean I won't be ready for Paris."

Nadal pulled out with a blistered racket hand suffered during his victory at the Rome Masters and fellow Spaniard Carlos Moya, the seventh seed, also withdrew saying he was "only 70 per cent" fit.