Henman boosted by Cincinnati win

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Tim Henman got back to winning ways with a comfortable victory over a woeful Nicolas Massu at the Cincinnati Masters on Monday.

The Briton, who followed his early second-round loss at Wimbledon with successive first-round defeats, came through 6-2 6-1.

He goes on to face Juan Ignacio Chela in the second round, with Andy Roddick potentially waiting in the quarters.

Britons Greg Rusedski and Andy Murray start their campaigns on Tuesday.

Rusedski opens against Dmitry Tursunov, conqueror of Henman at Wimbledon, and Murray starts against Taylor Dent, whom he beat at Queen's in June.

I've had a tough couple of weeks Tim Henman

Murray was looking on from the stands as Henman went in search of some form ahead of this month's US Open following losses in Washington and Montreal.

He went into the match with an encouraging 4-1 record against Massu and, after a nervous opening service game, took control again with a break in the fourth game.

That prompted the frustrated Massu to break his racket in the following game and the Chilean received a code violation.

His mood did not improve when a double fault gave Henman another break and the first set, and it was a similar story early in the second.

Today's result will come as a relief to Henman fans From MI Have your say on Five Live

More wayward play from Massu handed Henman the initiative in game two, and yet another error on the fourth break point put the British number one in complete control.

Henman cruised through the remainder of the set, with one sensational lob prompting another Massu outburst, and the Briton wrapped up the match in one hour seven minutes.

"I've had a tough couple of weeks," Henman admitted afterwards.

"I knew I've been hitting the ball well on the practice court so I had to stick with the belief it was going to come off on the match court.

"Once I got on top I wanted to be more aggressive. He obviously doesn't like playing against me.

"I've played him enough times and my style just doesn't match up well for him."

Roger Federer returns after Wimbledon against James Blake later on Monday, but Andre Agassi has pulled out as he looks to pace himself ahead of the US Open.