Many Americans continue to harbour a soft, if nostalgic, spot for the British and at the US Open at Flushing Meadow a little notice includes in its list of foreign newspapers available the London Times, the Daily Telegraph and the Manchester Guardian.

They probably believe Tim Henman to be a jolly good chap, and may even consider him a toff. Certainly Pete Sampras, the world's number one, continues to sing Henman's praises and suggest he may be the heir apparent to his tennis crown.

Henman arrived at this tournament under something of a cloud, and having lost his British number one spot to Greg Rusedski, the general perception was that he would be very hard pushed to beat Thomas Muster in his first-round match. As it was Henman won rather easily 6-3, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4.

Perhaps what had been forgotten was that Henman has a big match temperament, as he proved at Wimbledon a year ago when he defeated Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the first round, and again this year when he knocked out the champion, Richard Krajicek.

No doubt Rusedski's more recent success has greatly concentrated Henman's mind. Losing the British top spot means losing money. Both make complimentary public noises about each other; privately there is little love lost.

The key to Henman's game is his serve and Muster was quickly placed under pressure. Henman had taken considerable advice from Sweden's Stefan Edberg, champion here in 1991 and 1992, who before he retired at the end of last year held a 10-0 record against the Austrian.

There were too many unforced errors in the match to make it truly memorable, but the fluidity and variety of Henman's overall game often made Muster look little more than an artisan.

The Austrian, who until this year was the undisputed King of the clay court, has never been a stylist or touch player, but his implacable determination and attritional resolve has its admirers.

World number one Pete Sampras won 41 of 44 first-serve points in blitzing German qualifier Patrick Baur 7-5, 6-4, 6-3, to reach the third round last night. Rain had delayed the start of play for more than five hours.

Sampras won all 27 first-serve points in the first two sets of his 99-minute triumph, which he finished off with a service winner. Sampras hit 46 winners and was accurate with 58 percent of his first serves.

"I'm serving very well and I feel if I'm serving well, I'm going to be tough to beat," Sampras said.

Sampras delivered a spirit-crushing blow with the final point of the second set, a backhand cross-court winner.