Britain's Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski came safely through their first-round matches at the Australian Open in Melbourne today.

Sixth seed Henman saw off Australian Todd Larkham 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 in a match interrupted for 84 minutes by a short, sharp shower.

And Rusedski joined him in round by saving two set points in the first set before beating another Australian, Scott Draper, 7-6 (10-8), 6-3, 7-5 to stay on track to meet his rival Henman in the third round.

Henman, who kicked off his season in the best possible fashion by taking the Australian Hardcourt Championship in Adelaide eight days ago, will next play Belarussian Vladimir Voltchkov, who was a Wimbledon semi-finalist two years ago.

Rusedski, victorious in Auckland on Saturday, is likely to face a tougher test against Mark Philippoussis, back playing well after two knee operations.

The other British hope, Maidenhead's Martin Lee, was beaten 7-6, 6-1, 6-0 by Spaniard Francisco Clavet.

Henman's chances of the title were enhanced when champion Andre Agassi pulled out just before the start of his title defence because of a recurrence of an old wrist injury.