Patrick Rafter set up a quarter-final showdown with Tim Henman at the Stockholm Open yesterday as the race for next week's world championships became slightly clearer.
Australian Rafter, third in the world and the top seed at the Kungliga Tennishalle, had an easy time against Johan Van Herck, eliminating the 73rd-ranked Belgian 6-3, 6-4.
Henman extended his personal jinx on veteran Swede Magnus Gustafsson, beating the 30-year-old for the third consecutive time with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 decision.
Rafter, the US Open champion, and British number two Henman, have never played. "I have a lot of respect for Tim's game," the Australian said.
Results from another ATP Tour event in Moscow this week combined in a favourable way to produce a place for Carlos Moya in the eight-man field at the World Championship in Hanover.
The 21-year-old Spaniard, this year's Australian Open finalist against Pete Sampras, lost on Tuesday night to Boris Becker in the Swedish capital.
But yesterday's second-round defeat for French Open holder Gustavo Kueten in Moscow and Thomas Muster's bad-tempered 4-6, 6-3, 63 demise at the hands of Slovakian Karol Kucera in Stockholm boosted Moya into the sixth Hanover spot.
Four players are chasing the last two spots in the Hanover field: Muster, Sergi Bruguera, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marcelo Rios. Already safely in are Sampras, Michael Chang, Rafter, Jonas Bjorkman, Greg Rusedski and Moya.
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