Gilbert on the retreat after dig at women

Brad Gilbert, the man who has coached both Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick to No1 in the world, today attempted to play down controversial comments he made this week about women's tennis.

Gilbert's observations included the claim that Justine Henin-Hardenne, the women's No1, could not beat any of the top 1,000 men.

At present, the 1,000th-ranked player in the world is 22-year-old Italian Matteo Galli, who has the princely career prize money total of $2000. Henin-Hardenne, who beat Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2, 7-5 today to reach the fourth round at the Australian Open, has accumulated nearly ?4million in her career, plus two Grand Slam titles.

"There's well over 1,000 guys, more, who could beat her," Gilbert said. "Justine is a good little player, but she's about 5ft 5in and about 125lb. She couldn't come close to beating one guy in the (Australian Open) draw."

Asked if Henin-Hardenne could win a game off world No1 Roddick, Gilbert replied: "It's possible. She could hold serve."

That interview has come back to haunt Gilbert, who today was doing his best to talk up the women's game, knowing his remarks could be an unwelcome distraction for Roddick.

Gilbert said: "They asked me and I said there's probably a thousand guys who could beat her. But that's not taking anything away from her (Henin-Hardenne), that she's not a great player.

"I don't think she could beat anybody in the draw here, but that doesn't mean anything because women tennis players are the preeminent athletes in the world.

"Serena Williams is an amazing player, but that doesn't mean she can go and beat guys.

"There's physical abilities involved. The women's game has improved more in the last 20 years than the men's. They play great tennis, but women's tennis is women's tennis. It's hard to compare."

Henin- Hardenne dismissed Gilbert's views. "To be honest I don't care very much because men's and women's tennis is totally different," she said. "Our bodies are so different that you cannot compare the two."

The Belgian struggled in her second set today but the other leading players cruised through to the fourth round.

Fourth seed Amelie Mauresmo of France beat Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-1, 6-2 and Lindsay Davenport won 6-4, 6-0 against fellow American Laura Granville. Russian 11th seed Vera Zvonareva needed three sets to defeat Australia's Nicole Pratt.