Henman sees off Mirnyi

Henman now faces Johansson in Dubai

Click here for Thursday's results

Tim Henman cruised into the quarter-finals of the Dubai Open with a comfortable 6-4 6-4 victory over Max Mirnyi.

The British number one served strongly throughout the encounter and broke the Belarussian's serve once in each set to move into the next round of the $1m tournament.

Mirnyi, a quarter-finalist here in 2001, was unable to match that achievement after being broken in the ninth game of the first set.

Despite producing a stronger all-round game in a tighter second set, he was broken for a second time to go 3-4 down.

He immediately broke back only for Henman to break once again and wrap up the second set 6-4.

At the end of the first set, I saw there was something wrong with him

Thomas Johansson on Alex Calatrava

Afterwards Henman said: "He's got such an imposing game. He's a big guy... he can serve a lot of aces and unreturnable serves, but he can be erratic at times.

"But I'm much fresher than when I arrived and feel like I'm moving well.

"I was getting into position on some of his volleys and hitting some good passing shots. That's definitely a big change because I was feeling a bit sluggish my first day here."

Henman, the fifth seed in Dubai, now faces Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson in the last eight.

Frustrated Swede

Earlier in the day, Johansson defeated Alex Calatrava following the Spaniard's retirement with a back injury.

Calatrava was unable to continue with the score at 6-3 2-1.

But Johansson had been less than convincing against his injured opponent, struggling to find his rhythm and losing his temper out of frustration in the second set.

At the end of that set, his Spanish opponent called for the trainer.

He resumed play and held his serve to go 1-0 up but was forced to bow out after losing the next eight points.

Johansson struggled against his injured opponent

Afterwards Johansson sympathised with Calatrava.

He said: "It was a little bit windy and Alex hit some really good shots when I served, so it was tough to hold serve.

"At the end of the first set, I saw there was something wrong with him.

"Obviously his back caused him a lot of problems but I'm happy to be in the quarters."

On court later on Thursday is Calatrava's countryman Juan Carlos Ferrero, who takes on Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui.

Morocco's Younes el Aynaoui was another player benefitting from a second-round retirement when Juan Carlos Ferrero withdrew 7-5 4-6 2-1 down.

Ferrero, the tournament's top seed, had looked the stronger player for much of the encounter but was eventually forced to concede the match due to a thigh injury.

Sixth seed Roger Federer was another early casualty in Dubai after being defeated by Germany's Rainer Schuettler 6-3 6-1.

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Thursday's results from Dubai:

Second round
Thomas Johansson (Swe x 3) bt Alex Calatrava (Spa) 6-3 2-1 retired
Tim Henman (GB x 5) by Max Mirnyi (Blr) 6-4 6-4
Younes El Aynaoui (Mor) bt Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa x 1) 7-5 4-6 2-1 retired
Rainer Schuettler (Ger) bt Roger Federer (Swit x 6) 6-3 6-1

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