Switzerland's Roger Federer plays a shot to Britain's Tim Henman during their match at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, yesterday. - Reuters

NEW YORK (AP):

Top-seeded Roger Federer beat Tim Henman 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 yesterday to reach the third round of the U.S. Open, punctuating his victory with a moving, behind-the-back volley between his legs.

Federer, trying for his third straight U.S. Open championship, took the court 11 hours after Andre Agassi's palpitating victory over Marcos Baghdatis on the same court. Ranked No. 1 and widely regarded as one of the best players ever, Federer won in rather routine fashion.

Except for that one sensational volley.

Caught in between steps, Federer skipped to his right, reached around his back and zinged a shot between his knees. Henman seemed surprised and, with both players already smiling, Federer smacked a winner to close the fourth game in the final set.

"Rarely do you try this type of shot in a match," Federer said. "In practice, it happens all the time. But to come and pull it off on centre court, you have to make sure you're not doing something totally stupid or you don't look like an idiot."

Said Henman: "There's not a lot you can say at that stage, apart from laugh."

In other early matches, second-seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne rallied to beat Ai Sugiyama 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 and fellow former Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Anastassia Rodionova 6-3, 6-0. Also, No. 19 Jelena Jankovic beat No. 9 Nicole Vaidisova 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.

On the men's side, No. 10 Fernando Gonzalez beat Jan Hajek 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, No. 17 Andy Murray topped Alessio di Mauro 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 and No. 18 Robby Ginepri defeated Paul Goldstein 6-2, 6-2, 6-4.

Career record

Henman began the day with a 6-5 career record against Federer, tied with Rafael Nadal among active players for the most wins against him. Federer evened the series, beating Henman for the fifth straight time. Even when Henman thought he had Federer, he didn't. Like on that one superb shot. "I actually hit what I thought was going to be a perfect volley. He's actually then in the wrong position," Henman said. "But because he has no time to think about it, it was just a split-second reaction, but he executed it fairly well." Federer admitted he was surprised at how well it turned out.

"I knew I didn't move properly to the ball, and the next thing I knew, it was between my legs. The only option was the one shot I hit," he said. "He almost gave up because he thought my shot was too good, which was good fun."

The shot startled fans, and drew applause. Not quite the same volume Agassi generated, of course.

"I guess I was never the crowd favourite, like Andre was," he said.

On Thursday night Agassi kept his campaign alive and staved off retirement with a stunning 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5 victory over Baghdatis to reach the third round on Thursday.

Set to end his illustrious career after his 21st successive U.S. Open, the 36-year-old American extended his run by closing out an extraordinary fifth set against a cramping Baghdatis with a service break to finish the epic three-hour 48-minute contest.