Wimbledon: Henman faces Philippoussis

Tim Henman faces his biggest test of Wimbledon 2000 so far today when he comes up against Mark Philippoussis, the big-serving Australian nicknamed `Scud'. The British number one and eighth seed will be hoping Philippoussis, seeded 10, will still be suffering the effects of his incredible marathon against Holland's Sjeng Schalken, in which triumphed 20-18 in the fifth set. Henman, by contrast, cruised to a straight-sets victory over Moroccan Hicham Arazi and said, "When I came off I said to Philippoussis `What took you so long? I played my match in one set of yours'. I think he was just happy to get through it. I hope he will be a bit tired, but he's a strong guy".

Philippoussis, 23, insists his new lifestyle, he once had a reputation as a playboy, has given him new found stamina despite coming through the longest match on a single day in Wimbledon's history. "You can say I enjoyed myself too much to give myself a chance to become a serious tennis player", he said. "I've wanted to try to set myself in the right direction and if it's not going to happen here, it's going to happen, I know, down the track. With the amount of training I've been doing, it's putting me in the right direction".

Henman and Philippoussis is the third match on centre court, with defending champion Pete Sampras against Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman first up at 1pm. Sampras, seeking a record seventh Wimbledon title and 13th grand slam crown, came through the first test on his injured shin on Saturday, coming back from losing the first set to beat compatriot Justin Gimelstob in four sets. Second seed Andre Agassi, a possible semi-final opponent for Henman, takes on Germany's David Prinosil on court one while Australian Pat Rafter faces Sweden's Thomas Johansson. The other fourth-round ties see Marc Rosset against Germany's Alexander Popp, South African Wayne Ferreira play Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus, and ninth seed Thomas Enqvist against Jan-Michael Gambill. In the women's teenager Jelena Dokic faces unseeded American Kristina Brandi. Martina Hingis opens proceedings on court one tomorrow in a fourth-round meeting with German 11th seed Anke Huber, while Jennifer Capriati faces an all-American heavyweight collision with Wimbledon champion Lindsay Davenport.