So the goodbyes must wait for another day, after Tim Henman stayed alive in the final Grand Slam tournament of his career by achieving a first in his tennis life.

Henman had never previously beaten Russian Dmitry Tursunov at the Slams, but that was what he did in the opening round of the US Open.

Tursunov was attempting to pulverise Henman into retirement from the majors. He was also trying to complete a Grand Slam of wins against the Englishman, after victories at Wimbledon in 2005 and last year’s Australian and French Opens. But Henman was plainly in no mood to go out to Tursunov, the No. 27 seed, for a fourth time at the Slams.

In his Wimbledon whites, and in the heat of a New York summer’s day, Henman played some fine tennis to defeat Tursunov 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

“I’ve had a lot of trouble with Dmitry at the Slams, and this was the first one that I’ve won, so it feels pretty good,” Henman said.

He will next play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a young Frenchman. Should Henman defeat Tsonga, he would probably play Rafael Nadal, but that is getting ahead of ourselves.