Tim Henman produced what he described as his best performance on a grass court for four years to breeze into the third round of the Stella Artois Championships at Queen's Club yesterday.

Henman made a mockery of his recent slump down the world rankings with a convincing display to outclass Paraguay's Ramon Delgado 6-2, 6-4 and bring the old confidence flooding back.

A delighted Henman said: "For the first time in a couple of years I feel comfortable with my style of play and I thought I played very, very well.

"I would be the first to admit I have not enjoyed the last few years on grass because I was not comfortable and was not playing in the way I felt I could or should.

"Probably 2002 was when the conditions changed and it has taken a long time to be able to adjust. But today was a different story and I feel if I keep playing this kind of tennis things are looking good."

Henman's long-standing back injury flared up again in practice this week and worried him after his first-round win over Andre Agassi.

But yesterday he described his injury as "100 per cent" improved and proved it by breaking world No 107 Delgado early in the first set and twice more in the second while holding his own serve with aplomb.

Andy Murray fell 7-6, 3-6, 6-2 in a first-round match against Janko Tipsarevic held over from Tuesday's rain delay.

The 19-year-old Scot has had only two tour victories in seven tournaments since splitting with his coach Mark Petchey in April. But he says he will be confident heading into Wimbledon without a replacement for Petchey and believes there is plenty of room for improvement to his grass-court game.

He said: "I am obviously still looking for someone and it is not the easiest to find. I think after Wimbledon and before Cincinnati and Toronto I should have found a coach.

"There is no point living in the past and I have to think positively. I know I played well at Wimbledon last year and I know I can play well on grass."

Resuming 5-2 ahead in the second set in overcast conditions, Murray looked confident in wrapping it up but then endured a poor opening service game to immediately drop behind in the decider.

With Tipsarevic serving with increased efficiency and matching Murray for accuracy and power, Murray struggled to claw his way back and let out a roar of frustration when he slipped 4-1 behind.

Serving to stay in the match at 5-2, Murray missed a smash and flopped a backhand drop-shot into the net to provide his opponent with his match-winning opportunity.

Having saved two, Murray set up Tipsarevic to whip a forehand winner down the line and knock the Scot out of the tournament where he emerged last year by winning two matches in his first ATP event.

Murray will head to Stoke Park in Buckinghamshire to take part in next week's Boodles invitational event.

Defending champion Andy Roddick survived a scare to see off Canadian qualifier Frank Dancevic in their second-round clash and keep his dream of an unprecedented fourth consecutive Queen's title alive. Roddick was broken by world No 127 Dancevic in his opening service game and his grass-court game continued to splutter before he won 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.