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Superb Henman reaches French semis
Like land-locked Switzerland winning the America's Cup, this was not meant to happen.
Like land-locked Switzerland winning the America's Cup, this was not meant to happen.
Yet against all the odds, on a dank and drizzly on Tuesday, Tim Henman became the first British man in more than 40 years to reach the French Open semi-finals.
Perhaps the 29-year-old suffered temporary colour-blindness, mistaking the red hue of the Roland Garros clay for the green of his beloved Wimbledon.
Whatever the reason, Henman scored what must surely rank as one of the most impressive wins of his career in beating 22nd-seeded claycourter Juan Ignacio Chela 6-2 6-4 6-4.
It was a victory that will make the claycourters stand up and take notice. It also allowed Henman to eclipse the record of his grandfather Henry Billington, who fell at the quarter-final stage here in 1939.
A fast-court player with four Wimbledon semi-finals behind him, Henman had never progressed beyond the fourth round of any grand slam tournament outside of Wimbledon.
He had never won more than two matches in any of his nine previous visits here.
But as the twilight of his career beckons, Henman looks stronger, more focused and on Tuesday was a class apart from the supposed favourite.
Not since Mike Sangster reached the final four here in 1963 had a Briton plunged so deep into a French Open draw.
INTERNATIONAL ENTRANTS
Since the tournament first welcomed international entrants in 1925, only five Britons had reached the semi-finals. Just one, Fred Perry in 1935, went on to win the title.
That prospect is still a very long way away for Henman -- he has the outstanding claycourter of the year awaiting him in Guillermo Coria -- but on Tuesday, Henman was irrepressible.
Chela was simply shell-shocked, his looping groundstrokes proving ineffective against the aggressive Briton who cut off all the angles and took everything early.
The Briton threw himself at Chela from the very first point, hurling the Argentine's serves straight back at him and charging the net.
He broke in the opening game, crunching away an angled backhand smash before jogging round the net.
Holding his own serve comfortably, the Briton attacked Chela's serve once again in the seventh game, chipping returns low over the net and angling volleys away from the Argentine's outstretched racket.
He forced Chela into errors from the back, such was the accuracy of his rallying, and clinched a second break with a booming forehand down the line which Chela barely saw.
Serving out comfortably, he clinched the opening set in 31 minutes as a bewildered Chela looked around for answers.
DICTATING PLAY
The Argentine was the claycourt specialist, yet it was Henman dictating all the play.
He broke Chela twice in the second set, dropping his own serve once, before wrapping up the set 6-4 in 45 minutes to leave the 22nd seed on the ropes.
There was even evidence that perhaps "Gentleman Tim" has developed a mean streak -- at one point, he drilled a ball at the Argentine's midriff forcing him to take evasive action.
With Pete Sampras's former coach Paul Annacone watching his new charge from the stands, Henman could not put a foot wrong.
Lightning fast at the net and solid from the baseline, he bettered Chela in every department.
The Argentine recognised he was playing a man on the top of his form, and his head began to drop.
Henman savaged his serve again in the fifth game of the third set, breaking for 3-2 with a vicious forehand and that was the only break he needed, serving out comfortably.
