Tennis: Henman eases past Spaniard

Tim Henman overcame the loss of the second set to beat Albert Costa and advance to the second round of the Masters Series event in Rome.

The British number one took advantage of excellent conditions to win 6-2 3-6 6-1.

After breezing through the first set, Henman lost his rhythm and Costa claimed the next to set up a decider.

But Henman proved to be mentally stronger in the final set and used his serve and volley game to good effect to easily win it.

It was the sixth time in seven meetings Spaniard Costa had lost to Henman, who reached the quarter-finals in Monte Carlo in his last tournament.