MADRID, 18 October 2006 — Sixth seed Andy Roddick and former British No. 1 Tim Henman turned in impressive displays as they moved into the third round of the Madrid Masters yesterday. The big American took full advantage of his powerful serve to see off Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 6-4, 7-6, while wild card Tim Henman continued his fine run of recent form by upsetting 14th seeded Spaniard David Ferrer 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.

The 32-year-old, who lost to Roger Federer in the final of the Japan Open in Tokyo earlier this month, ripped through the first set.

But a determined Ferrer, who has reached the quarterfinals or better in four Masters Series tournaments this season, used his superior ground strokes to take the second. Henman rose to the challenge, however, racing to the net from the start of the third and gave the 24-year-old no chance as he broke four times on his way to victory.

Henman will face the winner of the match between fourth seeded Argentine David Nalbandian and Julien Benneteau of France.

Roddick snapped up his only break point on his way to taking the first set. It was level pegging in the second but Roddick used his serve to good effect to win the tiebreak, wrapping up victory with an ace. He will face either Argentine Agustin Calleri or Czech Tomas Berdych in the third round. Spain’s Tommy Robredo, who captured the biggest title of his career when he won the Hamburg Masters in May this year, made the third round after a gritty 7-6, 7-6 win over Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela.

The 24-year-old became the first Spaniard to win in Madrid after first-round defeats for five of his compatriots including Carlos Moya, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez.

Torrential overnight rain delayed the start of the morning matches after the roof in the Madrid Arena sprang a leak and organizers had to wait for workmen to lay out tarpaulin sheets to prevent more water getting on to the courts. Frenchman Gael Monfils had to retire after straining an ankle after leaping into the air while a set up in his match against Slovak Dominik Hrbaty and brought a premature end to his season.

Hingis to Play in Australian Women’s

Hardcourts, Says Promoter

In Sydney, Swiss star Martina Hingis will return to the Australian Women’s Hardcourts Championship later this year, the event where she launched her spectacular comeback, a promoter and former opponent said yesterday.

Liz Smylie confirmed that the five-time grand slam champion and former world number one would compete at the Dec. 31-Jan. 6 tournament on the Gold Coast where she first played unseeded earlier this year. Hingis, the youngest player ever, at 16 years and six months, to be ranked No. 1, was sidelined by injury in 2002 but has since risen to No. 9 on the world rankings after launching her 2006 comeback. “I’m very excited to be playing the Australian Women’s Hardcourts for the second year running,” Hingis said.