Henman rolls back the years to set up test against Nadal

Henman (above) and Rusedski both won their second-round matches in the Rome Masters

There is no escaping history here in the Eternal City, especially at the Foro Italico. Benito Mussolini had the sporting complex built in 1935 and boasted that it would be grander than the Coliseum. Twelve-foot tall marble statues of male athletes and soldiers were placed around the main court at the tennis stadium.

A new and infinitely less grandiose centre court was built 10 years ago, but matches are still played on what is now called the Nicola Pietrangeli Court, which provided an appropriate stage on which Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski rolled back the years yesterday to win their second-round matches in the Rome Masters.

Rusedski beat Italy's Stefano Galvani 7-6, 6-4, while Henman overcame Sweden's Thomas Johansson 7-6, 6-1. Today's third round, in which Rusedski faces Andy Roddick and Henman meets Rafael Nadal, will seem just like the old days, when the two Britons regularly fancied their chances against the world's best.

Johansson, the world No 14, returned to action this week, three months after suffering a detached retina when he was hit by a ball in practice. His vision is still less than 70 per cent of what it was and he struggles under floodlights. No wonder he looked less than happy when the match started just before 9pm.

Two mis-hit overheads appeared to be evidence of his problems, though his game looked in decent shape in other respects in a closely fought first set. He cleverly manoeuvred Henman around with an intelligent array of shots, but the British No 3 stood firm and kept his nerve to win the tie-break 10-8 on his fourth set point.

Henman took command of the second set from the start. He remains one of the quickest players around the court and Johansson must have grown increasingly frustrated at his ability to retrieve so many balls. "It was an indication of how much it still means to me," Henman said. Rusedski, had gone into his match with a somewhat less impressive record on clay. Having beaten Tommy Robredo, the world No 10, in the first round, he knew he had the chance to win two successive matches on clay for the first time this century.

The last occasion he had done so was at the French Open in 1999, which also happened to be the year when he last headed the British rankings, a position he will fill again next week following his own progress and Andy Murray's latest defeat, by Filippo Volandri here on Tuesday night.

Galvani beat Rusedski here four years ago, but for most of yesterday's match he looked every inch the Italian No 13 and world No 206. Rusedski was briefly in trouble when Galvani broke to lead 5-4 but once he had won the first set tie-break, courtesy of three loose forehands and a double-fault, the outcome was rarely in doubt.

Roger Federer moved into the last 16 with a 6-3, 7-6 victory over Italy's Polito Staracewhile Nadal romped to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Volandri.