Tennis: Henman scales greater heights

Tim Henman's magnificent run of form shows little sign of abating after the British No 1 celebrated the best win of his career yesterday by reaching the final of the Sydney International.

In yesterday's semi-finals he upset the world No 3, Goran Ivanisevic, twice runner-up at Wimbledon, 4-6, 7-6, 6-1 to qualify for a meeting today with the Spaniard Carlos Moya, who caused another surprise by saving a match point to beat his third-seeded compatriot Albert Costa 3-6, 6-3, 7-6.

Although Henman's joy may have been slightly tempered by the news that he must face another big server, Australia's Mark Philippoussis, in the first round of the Australian Open, ensured, there was no doubt that if the 22-year-old Briton can continue to produce this form he could progress in Melbourne.

Ivanisevic was the highest-ranked opponent Henman has ever beaten, and the victory will lift the Oxfordshire player into the world's top 20, an ambition he has been striving to achieve.

Henman lost the first set for third consecutive round but, once again showed that he refuses to be upset by early setbacks. He took a 3-0 lead in the second set but Ivanisevic managed to force the set into a tie-break before starting to lose his cool.

After winning the shoot-out 7-1, Henman quickly got on top of a match played in blustery conditions and Ivanisevic, whose temperament has long been suspect, finally exploded.

The Croat's head went down and he incurred a conduct warning after snapping his racket in two as Henman raced through the final set.

Henman later admitted he had found it difficult to cope with Ivanisevic's serve early in the match, but his battling qualities shone through and ultimately won the day.

"It was a question of hanging in there and keeping the ball in play," said the world No 24. "In the second set I got an early break and thought that if I could hang onto my serve it would be 1-1.

"But I then lost a service game and just had to keep fighting. I kept trying to make him play an extra shot to win points and it paid off. I made him work for everything.

"The conditions were pretty blustery, which mean you can't really play very good quality tennis, and in that situation you've just got to concentrate on what you're doing. But in the circumstances I think I played well.

"In the third set, when I started going a long way ahead, I just had to keep my mind on finishing the job. It was obvious he was getting frustrated, but I managed to keep my concentration.

"It's easy to let your focus switch to the Grand Slam, but I'm trying to keep my head screwed on and take one match at a time.

"I'm aware I play Philippoussis in the Australian Open and he's a very good player. But I'm in Sydney now and I don't want to concentrate on Melbourne until next week."

If Henman beats Philippoussis and wins his second-round match, he is likely to come up against the second seed, Michael Chang.

Although Henman beat the 20-year-old Philippoussis in last year's Sydney International, the Australian possesses possibly the fastest serve in the world and if he is on form, he can be devastating.

The Aussie will also be the crowd favourite and has pedigree in the tournament too, having last year accounted for top seed and world No 1, Pete Sampras, in straight sets in the third round.

But Henman has shown good form against big servers, beating Ivanisevic yesterday and his compatriot Greg Rusedski twice last year.

In addition, Philippoussis has been suffering an arm injury and with his current form Henman has a good chance to progress beyond the first round.

Last week the Briton reached the final of the Qatar Open in Doha, his first ATP Tour final, but lost to the American Jim Courier in three sets

Seven days later Henman has now made it to his second ATP Tour final and faces a player whom he beat last year.

Meanwhile, Rusedski has an equally difficult first-round match in the Australian Open, against clay-court specialist Felix Mantilla, of Spain. Mantilla, seeded 14, is an excellent stroke player and his groundstrokes may be too good for Rusedski if the Briton's serve is not on top form.

Bookmakers have slashed Henman's odds of winning the Australian Open as they face up to a massive pay-out if the British player triumphs.

A Ladbrokes spokesman, Ian Wassell, said: "This is another tremendous step forward for Henman. He need fear nobody in the Australian Open after his fantastic start to the year.

"Ladbrokes are already facing a pounds 100,000 pay-out if Henman wins the Aussie Open and I dread to think how much if he wins at Wimbledon."