MADRID, 21 October 2004 — Top seed Tim Henman and No. 3 Marat Safin set the pace past Spaniards with Paradorn Srichaphan tacking on a third Wednesday loss for a home hope at the 2.425-million-euro Madrid Masters.

Henman, competing for the first time in nearly a month and with his back and shoulder problems no longer a worry, posted an efficient, confidence-boosting first career win at the indoor Rockodromo venue.

The Briton demolished former Roland Garros winner Albert Costa 6-4, 6-2, following on after 16th seed Paradorn put out wild card Alex Corretja 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

Safin earned revenge for a second-round defeat at the Athens Olympic tournament as he dampened crowd hopes on a stormy day in the capital, defeating Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 three days after the Spaniard won the title in Vienna.

After winning the first set, Henman dominated in the second, breaking for a comfortable 5-2 margin and closing it out easily.

But he said that his exalted top position in the field means little once play begins.

“It means my name was going to be at the top of the draw, but besides that it doesn’t mean anything,” said the 30-year-old. “If I hadn’t played well today, then I was going to lose.

“I played some good tennis, it’s good to get that win under my belt.”

Chile’s Olympic-medal pair of heroes from Athens both exited, with Taylor Dent earning an upset over fifth seeded Olympic singles champion Nicolas Massu 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Austrian qualifier Stefan Koubek accounted for Fernando Gonzalez, seeded 15th, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5). Paradorn, the tournament No. 16, earned his first career victory against Corretja after never having won a set in three previous matches.

The Asian struck 23 winners while losing serve only once. The showing was enough to overcome Corretja, who had 35 miscues.

German Tommy Haas eliminated Czech 11th seed Jiri Novak 6-1, 6-4, but there was more disappointment for last year’s world number six Rainer Schuettler, defeated by Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-0.

Sharapova Beats Hantuchova

to Extend Winning Streak

In Zurich, Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova stretched her winning streak to 10 matches with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova in the second round of the Zurich Challenge yesterday.

Dubbed the “battle of the beauties” by one local newspaper, the match brought together two players whose photogenic qualities often draw more attention than their groundstrokes.

Yesterday’s match proved just as attractive with the tall blondes contesting several thrilling rallies. After beating Hantuchova 6-3, 6-1 in the third round at Wimbledon, the fourth-seeded Sharapova had to work a little harder for her victory in Zurich.

Winning the first set after a single break, the 17-year-old Russian was herself broken in the sixth game of the second set.

Serving to stay in the set trailing 5-2, the world No. 7 upped her performance another notch taking the next five games to wrap up her 10th straight victory.

The biggest surprise of the day came in a first round encounter between two 16-year-olds, Ana Ivanovic of Serbia & Montenegro and France’s Tatiana Golovin.

Ivanovic, ranked 156th, beat the world number 29 after a remarkable recovery from 5-1 down in the final set to win an entertaining match 7-5, 6-7, 7-6.