BRITISH NUMBER ONE, Tim Henman, approaching the twilight of his rollercoaster career, went into the defence of his Paris Masters title, having identified a magnesium deficiency as the root of his fatigue problems. He started brightly enough against first-round opponent, Paradorn Srichaphan, secure in the knowledge that his Masters participation was assured before picking up his racket, following the withdrawal of rivals, Andre Agassi and David Nalbandian. He will have plenty of time to rest ahead of the end-of-season Houston event beginning on November 15, however, crashing out 7-5, 6-1 against Mikhail Youzhny in the last 16. The Russian was good, Henman wasn’t. It was as simple as that.
World number two, Andy Roddick, lost out to Max Mirnyi at the same stage, leaving the already depleted field to Australia’s, Lleyton Hewitt, who was on a mission of his very own. Dumped by fiancée, Kim Clijsters, the former World number one is punishing his opponents on court for his broken heart, a personal therapy that ended against the in-form, Marit Safin, in the quarter finals. Already a winner in Madrid, the Russian former US Open winner is definitely the man of the moment taking his third Paris title in four attempts against the outmatched Czech, Radek Stepanek. Serena Williams and Vera Zvonareva have taken the last two
available places at the WTA Los Angeles
Masters starting this week.
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