Russia beat Britain in their World Team Cup tie in Dusseldorf after Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov won the decisive third match.

Safin and Kafelnikov comprehensively beat the British pair of Martin Lee and Miles MacLagan 6-1 6-0 in the doubles to win the tie 2-1.

Tim Henman had given Great Britain a great start to the day, beating Kafelnikov in straight sets.

However, Martin Lee could not match Henman's performance and lost 7-5 7-5 to Marat Safin.

Henman, seeded sixth for next week's French Open, impressed in a 6-2 7-6 (8-6) win over the Russian in Dusseldorf.

After his match Henman said: "I'm really happy with my performance today, particularly given the weather conditions and the strength of my opponent.

"Five years ago there was a certain amount of trepidation going into any clay court match, but now it's a lot more fun and my expectations are increasing."

Henman returned well, was confident at the baseline and also punished Kafelnikov when he came into the net, giving Great Britain a 1-0 lead over the Russians.

The 27-year-old added: "When it came to the crunch I hit a couple of really good shots in the tiebreak.

"I'm more relaxed on this surface."

Lee's best chance of victory over Safin was that the Australian Open runner-up would be forced out by a back injury.

The problem required on-court-treatment after the Russian dropped serve to go 2-2 in the first set.

But Safin, second seed at the French Open, still proved too strong for the world number 97 to level the match at 1-1.

Friday's results:

Spain 3-0 Germany
Albert Costa (Spa) bt Nicolas Kiefer (Ger) 6-2 6-2
Alex Corretja (Spa) bt Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger) 6-3 6-4
Corretja/Costa (Spa) bt Karsten Braasch/Kohlschreiber (Ger) 6-3 6-2

Russia 2-1 Great Britain
Tim Henman (GB) bt Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Rus) 2-6 6-7 (6-8)
Marat Safin (Rus) bt Martin Lee (GB) 7-5 7-5
Kafelnikov/Safin (Rus) bt Lee/Miles MacLagan (GB) 6-1 6-0