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Henman rides popular support to beat Arazi
Tim Henman rode a wave of popular support on People's Sunday at Wimbledon to beat Hicham Arazi 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in the third round and preserve home interest into the second week.
Buoyed by a chanting, flag-toting, Mexican-waving crowd - many of whom had queued overnight - Henman surfed the peaks and survived the troughs against the artful Moroccan baseliner to set up a fourth-round showdown with Mark Philippoussis. "It was a phenomenal atmosphere," the British fifth seed said. "I've been so lucky to have played on the middle Sunday twice. When you get a chance to play in that atmosphere, it's amazing."
For the first time since 1997, Wimbledon organizers were forced to schedule play on the middle Sunday, which is normally a rest day, because of a backlog of games caused by two days lost to rain in the first week. Tickets were sold at the gate on a first-come, first-served basis so the more staid dignitary and corporate element of the weekday crowd was not present to dampen enthusiasm. The Mexican wave swept all round the centre court instead of stopping at the posh seats. Against Arazi, a player of finesse and guile, Henman did not have it all his won way, however. The 30-year-old Moroccan, who beat Henman in the Davis Cup last year, broke the Briton's serve early in every set. It took all of Henman's serve-and-volley skills to turn the match around. Difficult life
"He was making life pretty difficult for me," said Henman, who held his nerve to win the first-set tiebreak with an exquisite lob to prompt a football-style punching of the air by delighted supporters. The Briton, inspiring fans to keep their St George's flags flying despite the quarter-final defeat of the England soccer team at Euro 2004, reeled off 13 points in a row at the end of the second set and looked in total command. His energy dropped in the third, however, and he looked listless and flat. "I'll need to play a bit better but I'm into the second week," Henman said. "You can certainly lose a tournament in the first week but you can't win it." After going 2-0 down in the fourth, Henman acknowledged the "people" had helped him to raise his game. He said if it were his choice he would always keep the tournament running through the middle Sunday to encourage "buzz and excitement." The 29-year-old Briton, who has reached the semi-finals on his favourite surface here four times, then unleashed his attacking game and won six successive games for victory. Henman will be looking to overcome big-serving Australian Philippoussis, who beat him at the same stage here in 2000, in the fourth round on Monday, for a place in the last eight. Federer, Roddick through Andy Roddick and Roger Federer reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon while thousands of fans lined up to be part of the third "People's Sunday" in 127 years. The top-ranked Federer hit 44 winners and advanced with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 win over Thomas Johansson. There were about 8,000 people still in lines outside when Federer rifled a forehand return on match point after 1 hour, 37 minutes. Centre Court was full by the time when defending women's champion Serena Williams beat Spain's Magui Serna 6-4, 6-0 in 58 minutes. The top-seeded Williams looked subdued with both her mother and father watching from the stands, but still had 11 aces and 29 winners with only one double-fault and 11 errors. Second-seeded Roddick beat fellow American Taylor Dent 6-3, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (1). Yesterday's Wimbledon early results Women's fourth round Ai Sugiyama (JPN x11) bt Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) 6-3, 7-5; Maria Sharapova (RUS x13) bt Amy Frazier (USA x31) 6-4, 7-5; Lindsay Davenport (USA x5) bt Vera Zvonareva (RUS x12) 6-4, 6-4; Karolina Sprem (CRO) bt Magdalena Maleeva (BUL x21) 6-4, 6-4. Women's third round Silvia Farina Elia (ITA x14) bt Virginia Ruano Pascal (SPA) 2-6, 6-4, 7-5; Tatiana Golovin (FRA) bt Emmanuelle Gagliardi (SWI) 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 Men's fourth round Sebastien Grosjean (FRA x10) bt Robby Ginepri (USA x27) 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) |
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