IT IS not in the nature of Tim Henman to brood over defeat. His third round 6-1 7-6 6-3 defeat to Michael Chang in the Australian Open yesterday was a clear and obvious disappointment, but the British number one left for home viewing it as an education and another step towards something better.

"I will always focus on the positive. I played a poor match, but it will not take me long to see that I'm moving in the right direction," Henman said.

With only one real upset in this tournament before Henman played Chang - Boris Becker's defeat by Carlos Moya on the opening Monday - many had hoped another shock might be statistically due, but the American, beaten by Becker in last year's final, ultimately gained a rather routine, bread and butter victory.

Henman so badly wanted to serve well in order to exert the maximum amount of pressure. Yet only rarely could he get his first serve to function and this cost him especially dear in the second set when he broke Chang a second time for a 5-3 lead.

If he had squared the match, it might have been possible to dismiss his early indifferent form and go on to better things. However once Chang had broken back, and then won the tie break with comparative ease 7-3, there was never any real likelihood of Henman mustering a cohesive response or extending the match beyond three sets.

Henman's performance was an echo of his fourth round defeat by Stefan Edberg in the US Open last year, also played in the evening. On both occasions, he rushed his strokes a fraction, striving for outright winners when they were not strictly necessary.

He did, of course, play several wonderful shots, which Chang duly acknowledged afterwards. However, as Pete Sampras said of Chang the day before: "Michael does not miss much and he's very quick". On this occasion he missed hardly anything, whereas Henman's tally of errors was far too high.

Stories claiming that hundreds of British fans were flooding into Melbourne Park had been greatly exaggerated; there were barely 100 in total, although one small group made more than their fair share of noise. When the two players were announced, it was Chang who received the largest cheer and the somewhat desperate British bellow when Henman won his first point drew peels of laughter from around the centre court.

Henman's serve and forehand, his two most potent weapons, were equally sporadic throughout and two extremely poor service games saw Chang take the first set in only 26 minutes.

Slowly the light began to fade from the blue Melbourne skies and the huge grey headed fox bats in the nearby botanical gardens took to the wing. Pale moths danced around the centre court's floodlights, while below, Henman found himself dancing to the tune of Chanit.

The second set saw both players struggle with their serves, and exchange two breaks apiece. Charging the net is a dangerous ploy against Chang and at crucial moments, the American unleashed superlative top spin lobs and had many excellent passes.

Henman had planned to follow in his first serve, but its quality deserted him and when he did get to the net he often volleyed poorly.

There was no question of making excuses. Hen man blamed neither nerves, nor the fact this was his 13th match in under three weeks, during which time he has reached his first two ATP finals, winning in Sydney last weekend.

"I still feel very fresh, which proves the extra work I am putting in off court is paying dividends."

He will now have a couple of weeks away from competitive matches before leaving England for the Dubai tournament in the United Arab Emirates starting on February 10th.

"I think we had a taste of how Tim can play, and he has a very bright future ahead of him," said Chang. He will now play Andrei Medvedev of the Ukraine for a place in the quarter finals.

A rumour that Steffi Graf had again injured her vulnerable back gained credence when the number one seed found herself first 3-0, then 5-2 down to Ines Gorrochategui of Argentina.

This was the second successive match in which Graf has struggled in the opening set, but once again, any vulnerability proved ephemeral and the German duly won her third round match 7-5, 6-3.