Tim Henman is pleasantly surprised with the steady improvement in his game that saw him clinch his first ATP Tour title of the year with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Andreas Vinciguerra in the final of the Copenhagen Open yesterday.

The British No 1 from Oxfordshire took just over an hour to see off his young Swedish opponent with another clinical display to cap an impressive week in Denmark.

I have won three titles in the last eight tournaments I have played, and that is a little quicker than I expected, said Henman, who also won the CA Trophy in Vienna and the Samsung Open in Brighton at the back end of 2000.

This match was the best I have played this week. I did all the right things. It was a question of mission accomplished.

The 26-year-old has been in the shadow of a resurgent Greg Rusedski since the turn of the year following the latter's recent victories over ATP Champions Race winner Gustavo Kuerten and US Open champion Marat Safin.

But Henman's determined performances over the last six days have given him plenty to build on in his bid to break back into the top ten.

Henman had been in sparkling form on his way to the final with comfortable victories over Czech duo Slava Dosedel and Bohdan Ulihrach before beating Dutchman Jan Siemerink in the semi-final, dropping only one set in the process.

The tournament's top seed showed no sign of taking his foot off the pedal. Within 11 minutes Henman had moved into a 3-0 lead and he went on to take the set 6-4.

Vinciguerra briefly threatened to make a fight of it early in the second set when he held his opening service game before taking Henman to deuce.

But it proved to be a false dawn as Henman broke in the very next game to open the way to victory.