Henman cruises through

Henman is safely through to the next stage

Click here for Thursday's results

Tim Henman progressed to the last eight of the Davidoff Swiss Indoor tournament in Basle with a straight-sets victory over Andrea Gaudenzi.

The British number one recorded an easy 6-2 6-1 win and remains on course to qualify for the Masters Cup in Sydney.

The number two seed was always in command in the first meeting between the pair.

"It was a good match for me right from the word go," Henman said.

Having won here before I feel I can do it again

Tim Henman

"I was serving well and consistently, and, when I am, I'm tough to beat.

"This court really suits my game - in a funny sort of way it plays like grass."

Henman next faces the winner of the match between fifth seed Arnaud Clement and local favourite Michel Kratochvil.

The 27 year old from Oxford is now the highest remaining seed left in the draw after top seed and world number one Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil lost in straight sets in the first round.

Masters Cup hopes

Champion in 1998 and runner-up in 1999, Henman has reached the semi-finals every year he has played in Basle.

He will be hoping for similar success this year as he bids to qualify for the season-ending Masters Cup in Sydney, to which only the world's top eight players are invited.

With six of those places locked up and another going to Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, Henman, Tommy Haas, Sebastien Grosjean, Pete Sampras and Marat Safin are battling for the one remaining spot.

"Having won here before I feel I can do it again," Henman said. "It would certainly come at a good time.

"I tend to play well indoors and it helps to have done well here before."

In othersecond-round matches, Russian Nikolai Davidenko added to Marc Rosset's miserable season by defeating the Swiss 1992 Olympic champion 7-5 6-1.

Roger Federer flew the home flag, however, by beating Xavier Malisse of Belgium 6-3 6-4.

And George Bastl was the second Swiss through to the last eight, winning a battle of tie-breaks against Czech Bohdan Ulihrach 7-6 (7/3) 7-6 (7/1).

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Thursday's results:

George Bastl (Swi) bt Bohdan Ulihrach (Cze) 7-6 (7/3) 7-6 (7/1)
Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) beat Marc Rosset (Swi) 7-5 6-1
Tim Henman (GB) beat Andrea Gaudenzi (It) 6-2 6-1
Andy Roddick (US) bt Nenad Zimonjic (Yug) 6-4 7-6 (7/4)
Julien Boutter (Fra) bt Andrei Pavel (Rom) 4-6 6-4 6-0
Nikolai Davidenko (Rus) bt Marc Rosset (Swi) 7-5 6-1
Carlos Moya (Spa) bt Nicolas Thomann (Fra) 7-6 (7/4) 6-4
Roger Federer (Swi) bt Xavier Malisse (Bel) 6-3 6-4

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