Johansson, Grosjean, Henman win in Rotterdam

Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson swept into the second round of the World Indoor tournament on Tuesday, while French Davis Cup hero Sebastien Grosjean fought to beat Dutch wildcard Raemon Sluiter.

Johansson cruised past Morocco's Hicham Arazi 6-4, 6-4, but fourth seed Grosjean struggled before winning 7-6, 7-6 against world number 116 Sluiter.

Second-seeded Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov opened his campaign with a convincing 6-3, 7-5 win over France's Julien Boutter and Britain's Tim Henman completed a good day for the seeds with an emphatic 6-2, 6-2 win over Nicolas Kiefer.

Having guided France to a 3-2 Davis Cup victory over the Netherlands earlier this month, Grosjean compounded the Dutch misery by edging past the hometown favourite Sluiter in two tough sets.

Grosjean saved two set points in the first tiebreak before clinching it 12-10 on his fourth attempt with a backhand winner down the line.

The Frenchman drew first blood in the second set to go 2-0 up but then lost four games in a row as an inspired Sluiter hit seemingly impossible winners from both sides of the court.

The Frenchman fought back to take the set into yet another tiebreak and an emphatic Grosjean ace on his third match point at 6-5 finally ended Sluiter's Rotterdam dreams.

"I saw Grosjean play in the Davis Cup and knew I was up against one of the greatest players on the circuit," said the 23-year-old Dutchman.

"I knew I had to play attacking tennis to win -- which I did -- but it just wasn't good enough to win today."

Fifth-seed Johansson, a finalist in Rotterdam four years ago, attacked the flamboyant Arazi's serve from the start, producing devastating returns and penetrating groundstrokes that often left the Moroccan stranded at the baseline.

Having broken serve in the opening game of the match, the 26-year-old Swede took the set in 38 minutes when Arazi hit a running backhand into the net.

Although Johansson wasted six chances to break Arazi at 3-3 in the second set, he made no mistake two games later as his opponent netted an easy volley on break point.

The Swede could next face Greg Rusedski for the third time in as many weeks if the Briton overcomes Arnaud Clement in the first round.

Johansson beat Rusedski in the Davis Cup at the beginning of the month before the Briton got his revenge last week in the first round at Marseille.

EASY WIN

Kafelnikov, who walked off with the Rotterdam title in 1999, easily negotiated the potentially tricky encounter against Boutter, who was playing the tournament for the first time.

The former Australian and French Open champion's superior all round game rattled Boutter, who was broken in the eighth game of the first set.

Despite Boutter being out of his depth, Kafelnikov seemed to suffer a concentration lapse in the second set and eased off until the 11th game when consecutive Boutter double faults followed by an acute angled service return winner from Kafelnikov was enough to hand the Russian the break.

"I had a difficult opponent who can play exciting tennis so I'm happy to get through this match," said a relieved Kafelnikov, who has had a disastrous start to the season, including a second round loss at the Australian Open.

"I was more focussed on the crucial points and that won me the match.

Sixth seed Henman, twice Rotterdam runner-up, served and volleyed superbly to outwit a hapless Kiefer, who has failed to win a match this season.

With the score level at 2-2, Henman won six straight games to bag the first set and race to a 2-0 lead in the second.

A desperate Kiefer stopped the rut in the third game after Henman wasted yet another break opportunity with an unforced error.

But Henman, who has already won a title in Adelaide this year, continued to demolish Kiefer and wrapped up victory on his first matchpoint when the German netted a service return.

Croatian Ivan Ljubicic saved five match points before completing a marathon 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 comeback win over former champion Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands.

Siemerink's defeat means John Van Lottum, who plays Switzerland's Roger Federer in the first round on Wednesday, is the only Dutchman left in the tournament.