Tim Henman played Russian roulette on his way to booking a quarter-final place at the Dubai Tennis Championships yesterday.

The British No 1 beat Igor Andreev 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 after beating compatriot Greg Rusedski in a thriller on Tuesday.

Henman had to save two break points in the first set and his confidence would have taken a massive boost in a tournament he has consistently failed to get to grips with.

Henman had been wary of the 21-year-old Russian's huge serve and imposing baseline style and was not disappointed as he struggled to impose his game on his talented but erratic opponent.

The first set was the most thrilling since the tournament began on Monday, as the large centre court crowd, with noisy British and Russian support, witnessed Andreev's frightening power force his opponent into a series of uncharacteristic errors.

Henman was undoubtedly flustered, but regained his composure at just the right time to win the tie-break, but not before throwing away two points on his serve at 6-3 up.

Andreev's game then began to falter as Henman's moved up through the gears. Henman capitalised on a double-fault to go a break up then seized his opportunity and broke again for 5-1 before holding serve.