Henman beats Brazilian
Sa to reach semis
Tim Henman kept his Wimbledon dream alive with an unconvincing 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Brazilian Andre Sa in the quarter-finals on Thursday to the delight of a packed Centre Court.
The fourth seeded Briton will have to raise his game to another level if he is to get past world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt in the last four and reach his first Wimbledon final.
Henman, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon for three of the last four years, won the first set of the match before rain descended on the All England Club on Wednesday evening causing play to be suspended.
But 25-year-old Sa, playing in his first Grand Slam quarter-final, came out fighting in the midday sunshine on Thursday to break a lethargic Henman for a 6-5 lead and served out to win the second set.
Sa broke Henman again in the next game but that seemed to concentrate the world number five's mind and he broke back immediately before taking the third set with another break at 5-4.
Henman then played his best tennis of the match -- including two exquisite lobs -- as he raced to a 3-0 lead in the fourth set and claimed his place in the semi-finals on his second match point with a forehand volley winner.
Hewitt scrapes past Dutchman Schalken
World number one Lleyton Hewitt had to dig himself out of a deep hole before beating determined Dutchman Sjeng Schalken 6-2, 6-2, 6-7, 1-6, 7-5.
For the first two sets the Australian U.S. Open champion pinned Schalken, 25, to the back of the court and carved into his game with his trademark razor-sharp returns and incisive groundstrokes.
But Schalken resisted bravely in the third set, fending off Hewitt's assault on his serve and saving four match points in the 12th game, before winning the tiebreak 7-5.It was the first set Hewitt had lost in the tournament.
Schalken came out guns blazing in the fourth set breaking Hewitt's serve three times as he countered the Australian's heavy groundstrokes.
The tiring players traded service breaks twice in the final set but it was Hewitt's iron will that prevailed. He survived two break points before earning match point with a whipping forehand down the line on Schalken's serve and won when the Dutchman put a forehand wide.
