10 June 2004	Thursday	21 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

LONDON, June 9: Tim Henman's French Open heroics were forgotten in 114 tortuous minutes on Wednesday as Britain's number one was beaten in his first match this year on grass at Queen's Club.

Given a bye in the first round of the Stella Artois Championships, the four-time Wimbledon semifinalist lost 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 to Karol Beck - a Slovak who had never before beaten a top 10 player.

Henman's French Open conqueror Guillermo Coria had no more luck. The Argentine suffered his second loss in four days on Wednesday, slumping to Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu 6-2, 6-4.

Former champion Lleyton Hewitt breezed through, though, out-gunning Spain's Marc Lopez from the back of the court. Twice champion at the Queen's Club, Hewitt was too strong on centre court as he eased through 6-3, 6-2 in 57 minutes.

On Tuesday, Andre Agassi was denied his 800th career victory losing to Russia's Igor Andreev 4-6 7-6, 7-6. Agassi has been stuck on 799 since March and it was the first time since 1997 that the American had lost three matches in a row. Andreev had never played on grass until this week.

Wednesday's results (prefix number denotes seeding):

SECOND ROUND: Karol Beck (Slovakia) beat 4-Tim Henman (Britain) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6); Lu Yen-Hsun (Taiwan) beat 2-Guillermo Coria (Argentina) 6-2, 6-4; 15-Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) beat Davide Sanguinetti (Italy) 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; Jonathan Marray (Britain) beat Jamie Delgado (Britain) 6-4, 6-3; Antony Dupuis (France) beat Nicolas Mahut (France) 7-6 (9-7), 6-4; 6-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) beat Marc Lopez (Spain) 6-3, 6-2; 5-Sebastien Grosjean (France) beat Todd Reid (Australia) 6-3, 6-1; Ian Flanagan (Britain) beat Victor Hanescu (Romania) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3; Lee Hyung-taik (South Korea) beat 12-Robby Ginepri (US) 6-3, 6-2.

Tuesday's results:

FIRST ROUND: 16-Todd Martin (US) beat Olivier Rochus (Belgium) 6-4, 6-3; Thomas Enqvist (Sweden) beat Takao Suzuki (Japan) 7-6 (7-3), 6-4; Wesley Moodie (South Africa) beat Alex Bogomolov (US) 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-5); Hanescu beat Goran Ivanisevic (Croatia) 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4; Flanagan beat 9-Mark Philippoussis (Australia) 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3); Ginepri beat Cyril Saulnier (France) 6-2, 6-1; 15-Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) beat Raemon Sluiter (Netherlands) 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5); Mario Ancic (Croatia) beat Jeff Morrison (US) 6-3, 6-4; Karol Beck (Slovakia) beat Gilles Elseneer (Belgium) 6-3, 6-4.

SECOND ROUND: 1-Andy Roddick (US) beat Karol Kucera (Slovakia) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2; Igor Andreev (Russia) beat 3-Andre Agassi (US) 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-3); Olivier Patience (France) beat Frank Dancevic (Canada) 6-3, 6-4.

HALLE OPEN

HALLE: Results from the Halle Open ATP tennis tournament on Wednesday:

SECOND ROUND: Tommy Haas (Germany) beat Kenneth Carlsen (Denmark) 6-7 (3-7), 6-2, 6-4; 1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 6-2, 6-1; Arnaud Clement (France) beat Alexander Popp (Germany) 7-6 (7-4), 6-2; 3-Jiri Novak (Czech Republic) beat Marco Chiudinelli (Switzerland) 6-3, 6-1.

Tuesday's results:

FIRST ROUND: Joachim Johansson (Sweden) beat Robin Soderling (Sweden) 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-3; Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) beat Lars Burgsmueller (Germany) 6-3, 6-4; Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) beat 5-Marat Safin (Russia) 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-4); Youzhny beat Florian Meyer (Germany) 6-7 (7-4), 6-2, 7-6 (7-2); Andreas Seppi (Italy) beat Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-3; 2-Rainer Schuettler (Germany) beat Jan Hernych (Czech Republic) 6-3, 6-2; Fernando Verdasco (Spain) beat 4-Martin Verkerk (Netherlands) 7-5, 7-5; Federer beat Thomas Johansson (Sweden) 6-3, 6-2.

BIRMINGHAM CLASSIC

Results from the Birmingham Classic WTA tennis tournament in Edgbaston on Wednesday:

SECOND ROUND: Roberta Vinci (Italy) beat 6-Nathalie Dechy (France) 6-0, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5); Tatiana Golovin (France) beat Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 6-0, 3-1 - retired; Akiko Morigami (Japan) beat 7-Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) 2-6, 6-2, 2-0 - retired; Samantha Stosur (Australia) beat Milagros Sequera (Venezuela) 0-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5); Shenay Perry (US) beat 5-Jelena Dokic (Serbia and Montenegro) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4); 9-Emilie Loit (France) beat Cara Black (Zimbabawe) 6-1, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3; Jelena Jankovic (Serbia & Montenegro) beat Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spain) 6-1, 6-0; Saori Obata (Japan) beat Kelly McCain (US) 7-5, 7-5; Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) beat Jill Craybas (US) 6-1, 7-5; 4-Magdalena Maleeva (Bulgaria) beat Anca Barna (Germany) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Tuesday's results:

FIRST ROUND: Black beat Rita Grande (Italy) 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4); Vinci beat Maria Kirilenko (Russia) 6-4, 6-3; Maria Sanchez Lorenzo (Spain) beat Els Callens (Belgium) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3; Golovin beat 15-Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) 6-3, 2-0 - retired; Craybas beat 13-Claudine Schaul (Luxembourg) 7-6 (7-2), 5-7, 6-1; Pascual beat 10-Maria Vento-Kabchi (Venezuela) 6-2, 6-3; Hantuchova beat Cho Yoon-jeong (South Korea) 6-3, 6-1; Morigami beat Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (France) 6-1, 6-3.

SECOND ROUND: 3-Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat Jamea Jackson (US) 6-2, 6-2; Anne Kremer (Luxembourg) beat Marie-Gayane Mikaelian (Switzerland) 6-4, 5-0 - retired; 2-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) beat Arantxa Parra Santonja (Spain) (Switzerland) 6-2, 4-6, 6-1; 8-Alicia Molik (Australia) beat Flavia Pennetta (Italy) 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. -Reuters