Henman leads GB recovery

LUXEMBOURG 1-1 GREAT BRITAIN Friday singles Muller bt Parmar Kremer lost to Henman Saturday doubles (1420 BST) Muller/Scheidweiler v Henman/Rusedski Sunday singles (1000 BST) Muller v Henman Kremer v Parmar Day one photos Gamewatch: Muller v Parmar Gamewatch: Kremer v Henman

Tim Henman got Great Britain back on track against Luxembourg by outclassing Gilles Kremer 6-3 6-3 6-2.

The British number one levelled the Euro/Africa Group tie after Arvind Parmar earlier suffered an agonising five-set defeat to Gilles Muller.

Henman was always in control, breaking once in the first two sets and twice in the third to sink the world number 888.

Henman will pair up with Greg Rusedski in Saturday's doubles as Britain look to take the lead against the minnows.

"I wanted to be workmanlike," Henman - ranked 880 places higher than Kremer in the world rankings - told BBC Sport.

"On paper it's obviously a match I should win, but you have to go out there and prove it.

"He started off playing some good stuff, but eventually I felt like the pressure was going to tell.

"It was a good opportunity to experiment with a couple of things - I was trying to be very aggressive on my second serve.

"I thought I served well and that bodes well for the doubles on Saturday.

"With mine and Greg's record we'll go into our match fancying our chances."

I'm disappointed I didn't win but I gave everything Britain's Arvind Parmar

Parmar looked to be on course for a morale-boosting win when he reeled off four games in a row from a break down to take the first set.

Muller looked utterly out-of-sorts but at 6-5 in the second set, he exploited Parmar's hesitancy to level.

The Briton was undeterred and Muller did not help himself by making a string of errors to concede the third.

But as the match looked to be swinging in Parmar's favour, he took time out for treatment on a thigh injury and Muller seemed revitalised

He broke almost immediately to force a fifth set before breaking again in the first game of the decider.

Parmar refused to buckle, but Muller's serve proved impregnable until the match reached its climax.

The British number three produced his best tennis to force four break points, but Muller was equal to the challenge and prevailed when Parmar sent a return wide.

Parmar admitted he had let Muller off the hook after the 4-6 7-5 3-6 6-4 6-4 defeat.

"I waited for my chances, got them and then didn't take them," said Parmar.

"He is a player who we know is a little bit mentally weak and a bit flaky - but when he's hot he can really steamroller you and I was hanging in there.

"I'm disappointed I didn't win but I gave everything. I didn't panic at any point and my attitude was great."