Lleyton Hewitt has proven he is a strong contender for this year's Wimbledon title after he defeated British number one Tim Henman to retain his Stella Artois Championship title at Queen's Club this afternoon. Both Hewitt and Henman had come through two tough semi-final encounters earlier today, with the Australian beating former world number one Pete Sampras 3-6 6-3 6-2 and Henman overcoming South African Wayne Ferreira 5-7 6-4 6-2.
There was little between these two players with Hewitt holding his nerve to snatch the match 7-6 7-6 with two tie-break wins. Henman led 6-5 when the players were forced off Centre Court by rain. However, after a mere 14-minute break, Hewitt kept his concentration to hold serve and force the first set into a tie-break. The number three seed took control in the tie-break from the start with Heman gifting his opponent the first five points after several errors and when Heman double faulted, the Australian had four set points and he converted the second of those to take the tie-break 7-3.
The second set proved an exciting affair with Hewitt forcing Heman to save six break points over two service games before the Englishman caused a shock to break serve and lead 5-4, serving for the set. However, Hewitt displayed why he is reigning champion when he came up with four brilliant winners to snatch Henman's service game and level the score at 5-5. The next two games went with serve, forcing the players into a second tie-break. Once again, silly errors from Henman gifted Hewitt the tie-break and the title.
"To beat two of the favourites for Wimbledon in Pete and Tim in one day is great," said Hewitt afterwards. "It's unbelievable. I would have said you were probably dreaming if you said that was going to happen today. It gives me great confidence and it's great that I get another chance this year at Wimbledon to do better than last year. I don't want to bomb out in the first round again." he explained.
Henman was disappointed but applauded his opponent's efforts. "I can't have any complaints. I would have loved to have won obviously but when I look at my game it gives me a lot of positive vibes," he said. "I played a good match and today he was a bit better than me and all credit to him. It seems the bigger the challenge you give him the better he plays. I played a great game to break him in the second set and just when there was perhaps some momentum going my way he hits four winners to break back and that's when you can't question yourself. I've been satisfied with the way I've been hitting the ball and I feel confident I can play well at Wimbledon," he added.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
