Murray Earns His First Crack at Henman

Teenage star Andy Murray will get his first crack at British No1 Tim Henman in the first round of the Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basle tomorrow.

Murray has risen to within 42 places of Henman in the world rankings since cracking the top 100 earlier this year and will be relishing this further chance to prove himself.

The British pair have never played together competitively and earlier this month Murray - rather disingenuously - said he did not expect to become the top British player until Henman had retired from the sport.

"Tim is still a way [in front] and has a couple of good years ahead," he suggested. "I might have to wait until Tim retires."

However, the ambitious 18-year-old knows victory over Henman would provide further evidence of a changing of the guard in domestic tennis with his surge coinciding with Henman's apparent demise.

Henman has slumped out of the world's top 10, winning only three matches since his shock second round loss to Dmitry Tursunov at Wimbledon.

Murray, in contrast, has gone beyond the first round in all five of the top level tournaments he has played since making his mark so memorably at the All England Club.

The winner of the eagerly anticipated all-British encounter will play either Tomas Berdych or George Bastl in round two.

Murray's fellow Scot Alan Mackin has also reached the main draw as a lucky loser following the withdrawal of Rafael Nadal, and meets Marcos Baghdatis in the first round.