Britain beat Germany in their World Team Cup tie in Dusseldorf after a back injury forced Lars Burgsmuller to retire in the deciding doubles rubber. Britain's Martin Lee and Miles Maclagan were leading Burgsmuller and partner Nicolas Kiefer 6-4 2-1 when the German pulled out to hand Britain a 2-1 overall victory.
Earlier, Tim Henman kept his nerve in a first-set tie-break and then strolled to a 7-6 (8/6) 6-3 victory over Kiefer in the singles.
His win gave Britain a 1-0 lead in the tie but Lee lost to Burgsmueller to set up the deciding match.
With the French Open less than a week away, Henman gave himself a confidence boost with a third triumph in a row against Kiefer, and fifth in eight career meetings.
Cruised
Wednesday's match, their first clash on clay, swung in Henman's favour in the opening-set tie-break.
Kiefer charged into the net and hit the ball into the right side of the court.
But Henman ran to his left and hit his best shot of the match, a backhand down the line.
It was one of his four backhand winners. He then held serve to win the tie-break 8-6.
Henman broke the 25-year-old German in the second set and cruised to victory.
Lee could not match Henman's performance suffering a straight sets defeat to Burgsmuller.
Lee lost the opening set 6-3 but started the second set well with an early break to go 2-0 up.
But he lost the next five games and although the German failed to hold his serve at 5-2 to give Lee faint hope, the Briton dropped his serve again for the fourth time in the set.
In the other match, Marat Safin beat Alex Corretja 6-4 6-4 to give Russia a 1-0 lead in their tie against Spain.
Wednesday's results:Germany 1-1 Great Britain:
Tim Henman bt Nicolas Kiefer 7-6 (8/6) 6-3
Lars Burgsmuller bt Martin Lee 6-3 6-3
Lee/Miles Maclagan bt Burgsmueller/Kiefer 6-4 2-1 Burgsmueller retired injured
Russia 1-0 Spain
Marat Safin bt Alex Corretja 6-4 6-4
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