Oxfordshire's Tim Henman and fellow Briton Greg Rusedski remain on collision course at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

On an opening day which saw the withdrawals of Andre Agassi and Serena Williams and the defeat of men's second seed Gustavo Kuerten, the two British players - each with a tournament success already this year - were both straight-sets winners.

Sixth seed Henman defeated wild card Todd Larkham 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 in a match interrupted for 84 minutes by a short shower.

Then, on the same court but with the sun shining, Rusedski saved 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 will next play Belarussian Vladimir Voltchkov who was a Wimbledon semi-finalist two years ago.

But it is Rusedski, victorious in Auckland on Saturday, who could have the far tougher task to set up the first ever grand slam clash between the two.

Blocking the path was likely to be another Aussie, Mark Philippoussis, back playing well after two knee operations.

Against an opponent ranked only 191st, Henman agreed his was a nice match to get out of the way without losing a set or expending too much energy.

"I felt once I got the first set under my belt I settled down and played some good tennis," he said.

Defending champion and favourite Agassi pulled out with a recurrence of an old wrist injury.

Kuerten bowed out to France's Julien Boutter, despite winning the first two sets.