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It's Henman against "Scud" at Wimbledon
Tim Henman rode a wave of Centre Court emotion to set up a classic Wimbledon fourth round clash with Mark Philippoussis.
Tim Henman rode a wave of Centre Court emotion on Sunday to set up a classic Wimbledon fourth round clash with last year's runner-up Mark Philippoussis of Australia.
But as usual the fifth seed did it the hard way falling a break down in each of the four sets before disposing of old rival Hicham Arazi of Morocco 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.
It was a performance that had a youthful and noisy Sunday afternoon crowd at times despairing and at times jubilant.
And it will have to be a much more consistent Henman who shows up on Monday if he is to stun "The Scud".
"It was difficult out there. It was very swirly and the quality of the tennis was not always great, but you just have to find a way through it. I've given myself a chance," he said.
"I need too play a bit better (against Philippoussis) but I still fancy my chances."
Greeted by an array of Union Jacks and red-and-white England St George flags, Henman quickly set about giving his faithful fans the usual early jitters as Arazi broke to love in the third game.
But he clawed his way back to 4-4 and then into a nerve-jangling tie-breaker in which he saved one set point with a sweet backhand volley and followed to take the set with a inch-perfect lob which had the crowd on their feet.
It was more hot-and-cold stuff from Henman in the second set as Arazi easily broke him to love in the sixth game only for the four-times semi-finalist to hit back immediately with his own attacking brand of tennis.
Henman broke again two games later against the 30-year-old Moroccan and set off another round of celebrations when he moved two sets up with a crisp backhand volley at the net off his own serve.
But if he thought Arazi would fold after the loss of the second set he was in for a rude awakening as the Moroccan yet again broke early for a 3-0 lead as Henman appeared to lose his concentration.
The British player tried hard to regain the initiative with some devil-may-care darts to the net, but Arazi would not be intimidated and he silenced the crowd with a deft volley of his own on set point that left Henman for dead.
There was more anguish to come as for the fourth time in a row Arazi grabbed the early set break with Henman struggling badly on his weaker forehand side.
But in what turned out to be a crucial fourth game, Henman suddenly rediscovered his spark and reignited his fans with a series of winners culminating in a sweet drop shot at break point up.
Arazi tried to break the momentum with a locker break, but he relinquished his serve for a second straight time on his return and driven on by the crowd Henman finished off the job winning six games in a row.
