Australian Lleyton Hewitt underlined his supremacy over England's Tim Henman with a 6-3 6-3 victory yesterday to reach the World Indoor Tournament final against second seed Juan Carlos Ferrero in Rotterdam.
The sixth seed will be bidding for his 21st singles title today when he faces French Open champion Ferrero, who brought defending champion Max Mirnyi's run to an end with a 6-7 6-3 7-6 win.
The Adelaide baseliner had never been beaten by the British number one in six previous encounters and soon made it seven.
Asked why he had such a good record against Henman, former world number one Hewitt said: "I've really got no idea. Maybe my game doesn't match up that well against him but I've played pretty well every time I've played against him."
Henman had stepped on to the court with high expectations after ending world number one Roger Federer's 16-match winning streak in ATP-sanctioned events on Friday.
However, the 29-year-old British number one, who had taken just two sets off Hewitt in their previous meetings, dropped his serve in the third game after whipping a forehand long.
He managed to win only four points on the Australian's serve before being broken for a second time to lose the set.
Henman dumped a backhand volley into the net to hand Hewitt his first set point, which the former Wimbledon champion converted by forcing the fifth seed into a forehand error.
Three times a runner-up at the Dutch port city, Henman broke Hewitt in the first game of the second set but that was just a blip as Hewitt went on to level at 2-2 with a crosscourt winner.
Another break in the eighth game compounded Henman's dismal showing before Hewitt served out for victory after 71 minutes when the Briton sailed a backhand long.
Filed by Aidan O'Doherty
