Tomorrow a li'l old boy from Knoxville stands between Tim Henman and another portentous meeting with Pete Sampras. Henman won his rain-interrupted third-round match against Sebastien Grosjean of France 6-1 6-4 4-6 7-6 and now plays Chris Woodruff for a place in the quarter-finals against Sampras, assuming that the American, chasing a record 13th grand slam title, overcomes Slava Dosedel of the Czech Republic in his fourth-round match.

And this is not quite the certainty it might seem, given Sampras's fractured display yesterday against Zimbabwe's Wayne Black, when he lost the opening two sets in the Rod Laver Arena, its retractable roof closed against the goosepimply unseasonal elements, before winning 6-7 3-6 6-3 7-5 6-3.

Henman, before he stepped out to play Grosjean, had cast his eyes at the television monitor and noted that Sampras was one set down. When Jana Novotna finally won the Wimbledon title in 1998, the defining moment came when Steffi Graf lost in an earlier round; so it is that all the top players check on Sampras. Henman finished last year on a decidedly downbeat professional note, with the world and its wife clamouring to offer advice. True to type, he sat down with his coach and friend David Felgate to plot a response and redouble the effort.

A crushing defeat against France's Nicolas Escude in an early round of the Adelaide warm-up event was hardly the start to the year that the newly married Henman and his coach had hoped for, and his first-round form in Melbourne against another Frenchman, Jerome Golmard, was understandably a little tentative.

Now, with three victories to his name, albeit the second an unsatisfactory win against the injured German Rainer Schuttler, who retired in the second set, Henman's confidence is burgeoning. He is much bolstered by the fact that hours of work on the practice courts, incorporating a shift in stance, have vastly improved his suspect first serve.

Fierce rows have broken out in Melbourne restaurants as to whether Henman has it within him to be a champion, and the jury is still out. Suffice to say that his victory over Grosjean propelled him into the last 16 of this tournament for the first time in five attempts, and that victory over Woodruff would see him achieve his draw place as the number 11 seed, something he has never done outside of Wimbledon in a grand slam.

Fortunes fluctuated under the grey skies and chill, gusty wind. Henman rattled through the opening set when Grosjean struggled. But gradually the Frenchman's rhythm improved while Henman's forehand became more and more ragged.

The first of three rain delays saw Grosjean lose his serve when 5-3 up in the first set, only for Henman feebly to drop his own.

When this happened again in the second game of the fourth set, the signs appeared more than a little ominous. But it was beyond Grosjean to widen the gap and he eventually lost it.

But the big hit remains, as usual, Sampras. Andre Agassi, wearing an outfit as black as the Melbourne night skies above him, demolished the 21-year-old Argentine Mariano Zabaleta 6-4 6-4 6-2 in the final match of the fifth day to set up a fourth-round clash tomorrow with Australia's huge-serving Mark Philippoussis.

The win, which took little more than 90 minutes, saw Agassi, winner of the French and US Opens last year, in prime form again. "It was one of those nights when everything flew. The strength of my game is taking the ball early and it should be a great match-up between me and Mark," said the number one seed, who will defend his Olympic title in Sydney this year.

Philippoussis, who had a comfortable straight-sets win over his fellow Australian Andrew Ilie, is at the centre of a rumoured love match with Russia's Anna Kournikova, the pair having been spotted having a cuddle in an underground car-park - the Scud knows how to treat a girl - on Tuesday.

"We're just good friends," Kournikova insisted after herself reaching the last 16 in the women's singles with a 2-6 6-2 63 victory over Kveta Hrdlickova of the Czech Republic. So what about romance? "None that I can tell you." But you are not denying it? "No comment." Philippoussis was equally coy. "I've known her for years, and that's pretty much it." But Kournikova was in the Philippoussis box, albeit with her mother Alla, to watch him play.

At least it makes a change from the Andre and Steffi show, although he and Ms Graf remain very much an item.

Kournikova, who has never won a title let alone a grand slam event, but who has attracted more publicity than most of the other women professionals put together, plays the number two seed Lindsay Davenport tomorrow, so she is likely soon to have more time for Mr Philippoussis.

Davenport, the Wimbledon champion, reached the last 16 with a victory over a rather less well-known Russian youngster, Alina Jidkova.