MELBOURNE, Australia -- The Australian Open's highest remaing seed survived a close match on Friday.

In the day's last match, No. 6 seed Tim Henman overcame Greg Rusedski 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in an all-British clash and survived as the highest-ranked men's player.

"It was a difficult match for lots of reasons? you know two guys from the same country," Henman said afterwards.

"We just wanted to get out there, play hard and compete hard. We both gave it our best and fortunately it went my way."

Henman advanced to a fourth-round match against Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman.

Already, 22 of the 32 seeded men have been ousted or injured. Rusedski, No. 12 Guillermo Canas, No. 21 Younes El Aynaoui bowed out Friday.

Henman, who reached last year's Wimbledon semifinal but has never advanced beyond the fourth round at any other major, combined a powerful forehand and pinpoint lob to counter Rusedski's booming service game.

With Henman serving for the set at 5-3 Rusedski earned a couple of break points as the pair battled on. As tension built, he looked to have broken back when a Henman volley appeared long.

But no call was given and Rusedski exploded. "How could you miss that ball, how could you miss that?" Rusedski screamed at umpire Andrea Egli. "That is a joke."

His concentration destroyed, Rusedski lost the set 6-3 and resumed his furious row with the umpire at the changeover.

"You should be embarrassed of yourself? what were you looking at, that was disgusting," he shouted.

"It is an absolute joke."

The row fired Rusedski up and he took a firm stranglehold on the third set.

Breaking for 3-1 he grew in confidence and broke again for 5-1 when Henman netted a half-volley.

The next game he punched a forehand volley away to put himself right back in the match at two sets to one down.

But Henman quickly regrouped and hit straight back, breaking Rusedski for 2-0.

That break was all he needed as he overcame some final game nerves to serve out for victory and a fourth round spot.

In other men's action, wild card Taylor Dent used his powerful first serve to full effect in the first set, but was worn down by a relentless Adrian Voinea.

The Romanian overcame Dent and a hostile crowd for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win.

	Alex Kim of the U.S. couldn't continue his hot streak at the Australian Open, losing to Fernando Gonzalez in the third round.

The 20-year-old Dent was born in California, but his father, Phil Dent, was a former top Aussie and runner-up in the 1974 Australian Open. He's become a target for both Australian and U.S. Davis Cup teams.

Dent, bothered by back injuries since the U.S. Open, went to the net 154 times, but said he was amazed by Voinea's resilience

"I don't think he outthought me. I came in with a simple game plan to make him hit winners for five sets," he said. "If he plays like that consistently, I can't believe he's 90 in the world -- he was hitting the lines all over the place."

Chilean qualifier Fernando Gonzalez got two match points and then barreled a forehand down the line to close out a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 win over Alex Kim, the American qualifier who ousted No. 4 Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the second round.

"I definitely don't feel great -- he just came out smoking," Kim said of Gonzalez. "But it's been a great experience -- that win against Kafelnikov was a good confidence boost. I know now that I can beat about anyone on tour."

An economics graduate who launched his professional career just seven months ago, Kim pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Australian Open history when he beat Kafelnikov in the second round.

But the American, who also had to come through the qualifiers, found Gonzalez a tougher nut to crack, crashing back to earth.

"This has been a great experience for me, I have learned a lot," said Kim, whose world ranking of 234 is so low he doesn't even rate a mention in the ATP's official handbook.

"The win against Yevgeny was a great confidence booster because I know now I can beat anyone."

A graduate of Stanford University, Kim resisted the temptation to turn professional so he could finish his degree and said he hoped more young players would follow his lead.

"I definitely feel that I have something to prove and I think it's important to set an example," the 23-year-old said.

"You can graduate, get a degree and still make it as a tennis player."

Gonzalez turned professional in 1999 after winning the French Open junior title the previous year and quickly made his mark, winning an ATP tournament at Orlando in 2000.

He qualified for the U.S. Open later that year but suffered a stress fracture in his right hand shortly after and didn't play again that year.

He qualified for the Australian and French Open championships last year, reaching the second round both times, but his inconsistent performances over the year saw his ranking slip from 115 to 135.

Once again Gonzalez arrived in Melbourne facing the prospect of having to go through the qualifiers just to get a start in the Open, but made it through without dropping a set.

He hasn't dropped a set in getting through to the last 16, beating Armenia's Sargis Sargsian, Spain's Tommy Robredo and then Kim in straight sets.

"Of course I didn't really expect to get this far, I was just hoping to qualify," Gonzalez said.

"But I think the courts here suit my game. I like to play on clay but the courts here are slow so that helps me."

With the bottom half of the draw opening up after the shocking exit of so many seeded players, Gonzalez will play Austria's Stefan Koubek in the next round, bidding to become the first qualifier to reach the quarterfinals at the Australian Open since Goran Ivanisevic in 1989.

"I haven't looked that far ahead, I'm just taking it one match at a time," Gonzalez said.

"I have been lucky that all my matches have been straight sets but I've played a lot of matches now.

"I felt confident I was playing well in preseason but I didn't expect to do this well so early in the year."

The Associated Press and Reuters News Service contributed to this report.