Tim Henman warmed up for the Samsung Open with the man he is scheduled to meet in Sunday's final.

The British No.1 practised with Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty after the qualifying competition at the Brighton Centre yesterday.

Top seed Henman launches his bid for the title against the Czech Michal Tabara tomorrow night.

American Vince Spadea is the first round rival for Hrbaty, seeded two. Spadea ended a long losing streak with a shock victory against Greg Rusedski in the first round at Wimbledon.

The British No. 2 plays his first round match in the singles against another American, Paul Goldstein, on Wednesday night.

Rusedski, seeded six, could collide with Henman in the semi-finals on Saturday. He is also partnering German Marc Goellner in the doubles.

British players account for a quarter of the 32-strong field after former finance student Oliver Freelove fought his way through two rounds of qualifying.

The 23-year-old from Bromley in Kent followed up a 6-4, 7-6 victory against Germany's Bernhard Parun with a fine 6-4, 6-1 win against Australian world No. 244 James Sekulov.

Freelove, who studied for a finance degree during four years at the University of Illinois, now tackles Italian Diego Nargiso.

Luke Milligan has the toughest task of the home contingent against fifth seed and Wimbledon semi-finalist Vladimir Voltchkov.