Humiliation for Henman and Rusedski

Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski went out lamely in the second round of the Masters Series event in Cincinnati, Ohio, yesterday. Henman, the No 4 seed, lost 7-5, 6-2 to Fernando Gonzalez, of Chile, while Rusedski was beaten 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 by the Spaniard Tommy Robredo.

Henman, who had defeated the defending champion, Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, in the first round, led 4-1 in the opening set but was unable to sustain his form as Gonzalez, ranked 39th in the world, hit a string of winners. The Chilean, having recovered to force a tie-break, took it comfortably, 7-3.

The Briton's frustration grew in the second set as he lost his serve twice in a row to trail 4-0. He fought back to retrieve one break of serve, but it proved too little too late. Henman lost his serve again when 5-2 down, committing the ultimate sin of double-faulting on match point. The defeat puts a blemish on Henman's impressive record in Cincinnati: he reached the semi-finals last year and the final in 2000.

Rusedski's exit was almost as disappointing. The British No 2 struggled with his serve, delivering eight aces but six double-faults and that prevented him from finding his rhythm in the first set. Although he began to put his game together in the second set, the Spaniard took control in the third.

Much was expected of Rusedski following his defeat of the Russian Marat Safin, the No 2 seed, in the first round. It was Rusedski's first meeting with Robredo, who had beaten the American Todd Martin in his first match. He has put together impressive runs in previous Masters events, particularly in Rome and Hamburg.

Rusedski said: "He just played very solid today, very consistent and that was probably the difference."

The world No 1, Lleyton Hewitt, took just 18 minutes to reach the third round when his Italian opponent, Davide Sanguinetti, retired with an injury to his right foot when trailing 5-0. Sanguinetti's retirement means that Hewitt has now gone through two rounds without dropping a single game, spending just 59 minutes on court. In the first round Hewitt thrashed Robby Ginepri 6-0, 6-0 in only 41 minutes.

The 12th seed, Andy Roddick, joined Hewitt in the last 16 following a comfortable 6-4, 6-3 victory over Nicolas Kiefer of Germany.

In Los Angeles, the Spaniard Gala Leon Garcia, who defeated the second-seed Iva Majoli of Croatia on Tuesday, beat Hungary's Aniko Kapros in straight sets, while the fifth-seeded Slovak, Martina Sucha, beat Germany's Anca Barna, 6-4, 6-4.

Kim Clijsters, the fifth seed, slumped to a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 defeat by Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik, blaming fatigue after reaching the final of the Stanford tournament and the quarter-finals in San Diego in the last two weeks, losing to Venus Williams both times.

Clijsters' game only briefly caught fire, as she won 11 straight points to build a 4-1 lead in the second set, and for the rest of the match she struggled to find any rhythm.

Lindsay Davenport, seeded No 3, but still feeling her way back after missing most of this season after undergoing knee surgery, battled to hold off Russia's Elena Bovina, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3.

Davenport is also feeling the consequences of her drastic increase in workload. After injury she followed Fed Cup duty in July with reaching the semi-finals of her first two tournaments back, at Stanford and San Diego. "I feel terrible," the Californian said. "I have more tape on my body now than I've ever had."

The second seed, Jennifer Capriati, took only 56 minutes to overwhelm Emmanuelle Gagliardi, of Switzerland, 6-1, 6-2.

In Finland, the third-seeded Swiss, Patty Schnyder, moved into the third round of the Helsinki Open by defeating the Ukrainian Tatiana Perebiynis, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. Schnyder next plays Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova.