Henman overwhelmed in Haas revival

Beating Germans in Germany is still not a doddle, as Tim Henman discovered last night. The British No 1, poised to reach the semi-finals of the Masters Series tournament here and advance his claims for a place in next month's Masters Cup in Sydney, lost his touch and was punished by Tommy Haas.

The man from Hamburg was able to turn around a contest in which he was second best for a set and a half and prevail, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, after two hours. Henman played brilliantly in the first set, serving and volleying with élan and hitting returns that caused the German crowd to gasp in admiration. Smug smiles crossed a few English faces when Henman took a 5-1 lead. But, given Henman's history in tournaments at the highest level, some worried that his form was too good to last. They were right.

Once Haas settled his nerves, worked his way into the match and unleashed his glorious backhand, Henman's game began to pale by comparison. His first-serve percentage dropped alarmingly, and his forehand became the liability of old.

When Haas double-faulted to 30-40 at 2-2 in the second set, the portents looked good for Henman. But this time the German rescued himself with a forehand drive to the corner. His confidence burgeoned and he began to put Henman on the defensive.

Although Henman was able to fend off four break points in the eighth game, Haas converted a fifth opportunity with another forehand drive. The improvement in Haas's spirits was exemplified by his recovering from 0-40 to serve out the set.

Henman was under pressure from the start of the final set. He saved two break points in the opening game, but was broken for 2-1, Haas complementing a superb service return with a pin-point pass. There was no budging Haas after that.

"I can't have too many complaints," a disappointed Henman said. "This is one occasion when you've got to say he deserved it with the way he played in the second and third sets."

Haas plays Lleyton Hewitt, of Australia, in the semi-finals. The winner will play Yevgeny Kafelnikov, of Russia, or Max Mirnyi, of Belarus, in tomorrow's final.

The season may be over for Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, the two Americans who have dominated men's tennis for more than a decade.

Sampras whose capacity to serve was restricted by a "dead" right arm as he was swept out of the quarter-finals yesterday by Mirnyi, 6-4, 6-2, is on the point of abandoning the Champions Race. Agassi, whose partner, Steffi Graf, is expecting a baby boy in December, has withdrawn from next week's tournament in Basle, apparently citing exhaustion. He has played two matches in seven weeks, losing in the opening round in Shanghai, to Irakli Labadze, of Georgia, and also here, to Hicham Arazi, of Morocco.

The 31-year-old Agassi seems unlikely play in the concluding Master Series event in Paris on 29 October. Although he has qualified for next month's Masters Cup in Sydney, his prospects of challenging for the No 1 ranking have diminished.

Sampras, 30, came here to play his first tournament since losing to Lleyton Hewitt in the United States Open final on 9 September. Sampras worked hard to win his opening two matches, against Stefan Koubek, of Austria, and Marcelo Rios, the Chilean former world No 1, but was unable to cope with Mirnyi's big game and strength of purpose yesterday.

"My arm was pretty sore all week," Sampras said. "I served hard last night [against Rios], and I had the dead arm today. I think it's a combination of [the weight of] the ball and my racket. I string my rackets very tight, about 75 pounds. When you take time off and then go out and serve hard, it definitely gives you some questions. I might try to talk to a [baseball] pitching coach, to see how those guys do it."