British pair progress

Rusedski demonstrates his determination in Cincinnati

Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski are through into the fourth round of the ATP Masters Series event in Cincinnati Masters.

Both men progressed with relatively easy wins.

British number one Henman, the seventh seed, beat Germany's Nicolas Kiefer 7-5 6-3, while Rusedski downed Austrian Stefan Koubek 6-3 6-3.

Rusedski's next opponent will be odds-on favourite Patrick Rafter, who beat American James Blake 7-6 (9/7) 6-2.

Henman, losing finalist here last year to Swede Thomas Enqvist, faces American Jan-Michael Gambill who beat Argentina's Guillermo Canas 6-3 6-4.

Henman made an uncertain start and survived three break points before holding his serve in the opening game.

Battled

The first set went with serve until the seventh game when Henman faced a further three break points.

Although the first was saved when Kiefer netted a backhand return, the German secured the match's first break on the next point.

Kiefer then had his own crisis, saving two break points in game eight before holding with a cross-court forehand as Henman's chip and charge was not deep enough.

Henman recovered from a shaky start

At 5-3 down, Henman found himself serving to stay in the first set and immediately lost the first point before levelling with an ace.

Kiefer battled to 15-30 before Henman fought back to deuce, aided by a net cord, and then won the game on the first advantage to reduce the deficit to 5-4.

Henman squared the match by breaking again as Kiefer double-faulted on breakpoint, then held his own serve.

Kiefer managed to save two set points, but Henman made no mistake on the third, smashing an overhead to take the first set 7-5.

A break each saw the second set finely poised with Henman leading at 4-3.

But when the German netted a backhand in the eighth game, he gave his opponent another breakpoint and Kiefer's eighth double fault left the Briton to serve out for the match.

Hewitt win

Rusedski's big serve came into play as he dropped just six games.

He took the first break of serve in the fifth game of the first set to go 3-2 ahead and never looked back.

Errors by Koubek continued as the Austrian lost the opening set 6-3, and the second set went the same way

Fifth seed Lleyton Hewitt is also into the quarter-finals after beating Max Mirnyi of Belarus 1-6 6-4 7-6 (7/5).

And number one seed Gustavo Kuerten eased past Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic 6-2 6-1 to book his place in the last eight.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the number six seed, needed three sets to get past Alberto Martin 6-2 2-6 6-4