Philippoussis to meet Henman in final

Top seed Tim Henman triumphed over Spain's Alberto Martin 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 in the semifinals of the Australian men's hardcourt championship on Saturday.

Briton Henman will meet Australia's Mark Philippoussis in Sunday's final after the home favourite beat Morocco's fourth seed Hicham Arazi 6-4, 6-1 in a powerful performance in the second semifinal.

Martin broke Henman's serve to lead 4-3 in the first set but the top seed levelled at 4-4 and broke the Spaniard's serve again in the 12th game to take the set 7-5.

Serving at 5-4 in the second set, Martin reached 40-30 with a forehand passing shot before Henman hit a backhand long, taking the contest into a third set.

Henman raced out to a 3-0 lead in the deciding set and Martin was soon serving at 2-5 in a fight to stay in the match.

But the Spaniard hit his backhand passing attempt into the net, giving Henman victory on his third match point.

Philippoussis seemed to struggle with his rhythm late in each set and even dropped serve when leading 5-3 in the first but produced a fine backhand passing shot in the next game to take the set 6-4.

The Australian fired his eighth ace of the match to take a 3-0 lead in the second set.

Serving for the match at 5-1, Philippoussis squandered three match points, netting a half-volley at 40-30.

Philippoussis then saved a break point before a forehand winner gave him his fourth match point which he won in style with his 10th ace after 64 minutes.