Tim Henman's Australian Open came to a cruel end on Sunday with a desperately close five-set loss to American Chris Woodruff.

The unseeded Woodruff came through 7-5, 1-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 after nearly four hours.

Henman twice lost his serve at the start of the final set, but broke back each time and had Woodruff at 15-40 with the score at 5-5.

But the British number one, who was aiming for a quarter-final showdown with Pete Sampras, lost the game and netted a forehand volley in the next to lose the match.

After the match, Henman said he did not understand why he had failed.

"I have to give Chris a lot of the credit. We both had a lot of opportunities," he said.

"When he was in front that's when he started to play his worst...then I won six games in a row without doing anything particularly special.

"He won a close third set and likewise I get an early break in the fourth and then in the fifth he played very well.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Henman said the Woodruff match was a missed opportunity to progress in the tournament.

"It's an opportunity in that match," he said.

"But it's not as if I was going to breeze through this draw, had I got through the match with the possibility of Sampras followed by Agassi, but no, I would have loved to have got to the quarters.

"The fourth round is my best here and I would have loved to have gone further."