TIM Henman gained revenge over Jerome Golmard with a 6-4, 6-1 third round win today in the Japan Open.

Third seed Henman played solid tennis to take the opening set against the 14th seeded Frenchman and then ran away with the second set to wrap up victory.

Henman's win avenged his defeat against Golmard in the first round of the Australian Open.

The British No 2 is now the sole survivor among the top nine seeds and has a great chance to win the Tokyo tournament.

And if Henman reaches semi-finals this week he could match or even improve upon his previous best world ranking of number 14 - one position higher than his current slot.

Earlier, second seed Michael Chang crashed out against German Hendrik Dreekmann, going down 2-6, 7-5, 4-6.

Chang, the 1989 French Open champion, injured his left knee a month ago at Indian Wells.

It was only his third match after his comeback in Hong Kong, where he suffered his first-ever first-round defeat in Asia.

The American, whose highest ranking of second has plummeted to 13th this week, has won 11 titles in Asia.

American Brian MacPhie, who ousted top seed Patrick Rafter yesterday, lost to Andrei Pavel of Romania, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

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