Tim Henman's grand slam career came to a disappointing end in New York as he bowed out of the US Open to Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the early hours of this morning.

Henman, 32, had fought tooth and nail to reach the second round of his final tournament after 14 years on the tour, knocking out 27th seed Dmitry Tursunov of Russia in four sets on Wednesday.

The Oxfordshire ace, who will retire after Great Britain's Davis Cup tie at Wimbledon against Croatia in September, was also hopeful his troublesome back would hold out for the rest of his last hurrah in the grand slams.

But he ran out of steam as night fell at Flushing Meadows, Tsonga, 22, too strong a winner at 7-6, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 to reach the third round and a possible tie against second seed Rafael Nadal.

Henman had been up against it as early as the fourth game of the first set when he had to save break point against the man ten years his junior.

He broke Tsonga in the ninth game with a wonderful cross court return of serve to go 5-4 in front.

But he then conceded his advantage immediately, allowing Tsonga to get back on serve at 5-5.

Henman saved two set points on his own serve to force a tie-break, but seemed to be distracted by umpire Andreas Egli, at one point telling the official to concentrate on the game.

Yet it was Henman's focus that was lost and Tsonga won the tie-break 7-2.

Henman fought back in the second set, wrong-footing Tsonga repeatedly on his approaches to the net and getting his reward with two breaks of serve that left him at 5-2 and looking for a third to seal the set.

He got it, levelling the match in quick order and gaining the psychological upper hand as he marched off the court at the ensuing break.

Unfortunately for the former world No 4, who reached the US Open semi-final in 2004, it was Tsonga who had the bit between his teeth taking the third set to mark the beginning of the end for Henman.

At 2-2 in the fourth, Tsonga earned three break points, but needed just one and the stage was set for Henman's exit.

He seemed to accept it too, losing the next three games in quick succession to serve to save the match at 5-3.

Facing match point at 30-40 on his own serve, Henman found the heart for one last fight, delaying the end.

At deuce he even gave a glimpse of the brilliant serve and volley style that had served him so well and earned him 11 titles on the ATP Tour before going on to keep the match alive and force Tsonga to serve for the match.

The Frenchman did just that and in some style, finishing Henman's career with an ace.

1:56am Saturday 1st September 2007

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