Henman Halted by Qualifier Djokovic at ATP Rotterdam

"It has always been one of my dreams to play against players like Henman or Sampras," said the expressive Djokovic. "Players like (Gael) Monfils, (Richard) Gasquet, (Rafael) Nadal and myself are good for tennis. We are all very emotional on court. I'm happy to be part of the group."

Henman says he wasn't troubled by his regular back pain, but nonetheless suffered another loss that will see him replaced atop the British rankings by teen Andy Murray come Monday.

"My back, which has been a concern, felt good," Henman said. "I still don't have enough confidence in it. There have been so many times in the last year where I've played through a lot of pain. Sometimes you are almost expecting it to start hurting. I still feel I need to build up more matches and more tournaments and hopefully more confidence."

In seeded play No. 6 Radek Stepanek defeated Fabrice Santoro, allowing only five games, while Belgian Olivier Rochus handed No. 3 Dave Ferrer a 4-and-4 loss.

"I played very aggressive today, especially during the important games," Rochus said. "I tried to attack as often as possible. The match was very close, even if the result doesn't really show it...This is a big tournament and I expected tough matches right from the beginning. In the first round I had to save four match points against (Jurgen) Melzer and now I'm still alive. Everything is possible."

Other un-seeds into the quarters were Finn Jarkko Nieminen (d. (Q) Simon) and Italian qualifier Daniele Bracciali (d. (LL) Calatrava from a set down).

On the schedule for Friday are (LL) Parmar vs. C.Rochus, (Q) Bracciali vs. (2) Davydenko, (6) Stepanek vs. (Q) Djokovic, and O.Rochus vs. Nieminen.