Henman falls to Lapentti

Tim Henman could not get into his stride

N Lapentti (Ecu) beats T Henman (GB)
6-4 6-4

Tim Henman was well below his best as he crashed out of the Tennis Masters Series event in Indian Wells to Nicolas Lapentti

The British number one had beaten the Ecuadorian in their two previous meetings on the ATP Tour but made too many unforced errors to maintain his 100% record.

And Henman rarely threatened the Ecuador player as he went down in the third round in straight sets.

Early promise

Henman broke Lapentti's opening service game to take a 2-0 lead before going down 6-4 6-4.

After the opening setback Lapentti responded with authority and drew level immediately.

Lapentti then broke the 10th seed again in the ninth game for a 5-4 lead before surviving two break points to take the first set.

The second set went with serve until a string of errors by the Brit in the seventh game handed Lapentti a break.

Henman forced a break point of his own when Lapentti served for the match at 5-4, but was unable to capitalise.

He wasn't going to go away. He just came up with some great shots at the right time in the third set

  Andre Agassi

Andre Agassi and Patrick Rafter survived highly competitive three-set third round matches.

Fourth seed Agassi was serving for the match at 6-4 5-4 against Nicolas Kiefer, of Germany, but squandered that opportunity to close it out and was forced to go the distance before prevailing 6-4 5-7 6-4.

"He wasn't going to go away. He just came up with some great shots at the right time in the third set.

"Somebody was going to have to come out there and win that third. I just feel I closed it out there in the end," added Agassi.

The 11th-seeded Rafter took advantage of a few errors by eighth-seeded Spaniard Alex Corretja in the second set to bounce back and rally for a 4-6 6-3 6-4 victory.

Kuerten misery

"I don't think I can play much better than that," said Rafter.

Sixth-seeded Australian Lleyton Hewitt beat Bohdan Ulihrach, of the Czech Republic.

He will next take on Nicolas Escude, who crushed fellow Frenchman and recent Australian Open finalist Arnaud Clement, the 13th seed, 6-1 6-2.

American Jan-Michael Gambill beat top seed Gustavo Kuerten 7-6 6-4.

Gambill will face Olympic gold medalist and seventh seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia in the quarter-finals.

Clearly at the top of his game, the 19th-ranked Gambill raced out to a 5-2 lead in the first set only to watch Kuerten claw his way back to level the score and force the tiebreaker.

But Gambill quickly built a 5-2 lead in the breaker and held on to take it 7-5.

In the second set, Gambill went ahead 3-1 and never relinquished his lead.