Tim Henman reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon tonight after beating Argentina's David Nalbandian on Centre Court. The British number one won 6-2 6-7 (4-7) 7-5 6-3 against the sixth seed from South America, who was beaten in last year's final by Lleyton Hewitt.
Henman next plays either third seed Juan Carlos Ferrero, of Spain, or Sebastien Grosjean, the 13th seed from France. Long before the end the frantic Centre Court crowd had become used to both players losing their serves. Henman was the recipient again in the fourth-set opener as Nalbandian's delivery - by no means the most daunting in the game - went to pieces.
It meant the Argentinian had surrendered serve for six successive games although Henman would also have been concerned by his own quotient. Nalbandian finally laboured to hold serve, coming back from break point down after Henman appeared to escape with a double bounce in the next game which again comprised amazingly variable quality. And the inconsistency clearly affected Henman as Nalbandian made it a break apiece straight away.
It surprised nobody, though, when Henman immediately captured serve again with some bold returning for a 4-3 lead. It inspired him to produce one of his best service games of the match to move to the brink of victory. Henman blew two match-points but Nalbandian's careless netting of a simple volley finally handed him yet another break and a 6-2 6-7 7-5 6-3 success and a place in the quarter-finals.
Filed by Barry J Whyte
