Tim Henman's dream of Wimbledon glory turned to a nightmare yet again as he lost his rain delayed match against Sebastien Grosjean 7-6 3-6 6-3 6-4. The match resumed for with Henman trailing by two sets to one but leading 2-1 in the fourth set, and the Brittish number one never appeared to settle.
Henman saw the French hard-hitter break his serve in the seventh game and when Henman wasted two break points in the next game, there was the sense that is was not to be his day. And so it proved, with Grosjean taking his place in the semi-finals when Henman dumped a backhand return tamely into the net after just 32 minutes of action.
Roger Federer eased through to his first Grand Slam semi-final with a straight-sets 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory over Dutchman Sjeng Schalken who looked inhibited by a pre-match foot injury. Schalken won the first point on Federer's serve but rarely found an answer to it again although at one point he was 4-1 up in the third before Federer raised his own game again with a decisive double break-back. Federer, who now meets big-serving Andy Roddick has, like the American, surrendered only one set all tournament.
Federer, comfortably holding serve and returning with sharpness and confidence broke for 3-1 in the opening set and clearly superior when approaching the net it was sufficient to to keep him ahead. Schalken won admirers with a storming recovery at the start of the third and some superb returning earned him an early break and then a 4-1 lead. But Federer dug deep to re-establish his authority as Schalken faltered again. It was all over in 98 minutes.
Andy Roddick made up for a day and a half spent watching a variety of Wimbledon rainfall to storm past Swede Jonas Bjorkman 6-4 6-2 6-4 and book his place in the men's singles semi-final. Any hope Bjorkman had that the raid would have dampened Roddick's gunpowder were removed as the American smashed serves of 128, 133, 132 and 125 MPH in his first service game. That set the tone of a match between the youngest and oldest men left in the draw as Bjorkman found the pace too hot. The 31-year-old did manage to break once in the first set but after that he never really troubled Roddick.
Mark Philippoussis beat Alexander Popp to reach his first ever Wimbledon semi-final. The Australian had a five-set victory over Popp. The Scud powered down eight aces in five service games today, taking his tally for the match to 34 and his tournament total to a staggering 153, to clinch a 4-6 4-6 6-3 6-3 8-6 success and earn a last-four clash with Sebastien Grosjean tomorrow. The unseeded Philippoussis actually looked the more vulnerable on his serve, but somehow hung on and achieved the crucial break in the 14th game of the deciding set.
Filed by Barry J Whyte
