Henman outfights angry Philippoussis

LONDON, June 28 (Reuters) -- Tim Henman turned the weight of British hope and expectancy to his advantage as he outfought an angry Mark Philippoussis 6-2 7-5 6-7 7-6 on Monday to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.

The British number one had entered the match with a question mark over his ability to overcome the big-serving Australian -- a finalist here last year -- especially as he had lost four of the pair's previous six meetings.

One of those defeats had come in the fourth round at Wimbledon four years ago but there was going to be no repeat performance on Monday and Henman safely reached the last eight for the eighth time.

After three hours and seven minutes of high drama, Henman eventually sealed victory on his fifth match point when Philippoussis sailed a backhand wide.

"It's tough to make sense of it right now because it was such an intense match as the quality was so high throughout," Henman said after setting up a meeting with Croatia's Mario Ancic.

A huge roar greeted the fifth seed as he skipped to the baseline for the start of the clash.

Within three minutes, Henman had blunted the power generated from the Philippoussis racket to break in the opening game with a sublime passing shot.

Having chalked up three unconvincing victories to secure the date with last year's runner-up, Henman produced exquisite winners to race away with the set in just 24 minutes.

Three consecutive double faults in a row and a volley error by the 11th-seeded Australian allowed Henman to nose ahead 4-1.

The Briton duly wrapped up the first set two games later by guiding a delectable half volley into the corner of the court.

The second set was a much closer affair but it controversially turned Henman's way at 5-5.

NO OVERRULE

Facing break point, Philippoussis was left exasperated when the linesperson failed to call Henman's lob wide.

"That was on the baseline but wide," Philippoussis screamed at umpire Enric Molina but an overrule was not forthcoming and Henman had broken.

Ominously for Philippoussis, the 29-year-old Briton served out for the set without losing a point on serve in the entire set.

The Australian lost his cool again at 6-5 up in the third set after Molina failed to declare a Henman serve long.

"What are you looking at, open your eyes," Philippoussis shouted at Molina.

Awarded a code violation for the use of an expletive during the outburst, Philippoussis retorted: "I should give you a violation because you suck."

The exchange appeared to spur Philippoussis on and he charged through the tiebreak 7-3.

Henman then responded to the crowd's support by breaking for a 4-2 lead in the fourth set with a scintillating volley winner.

He then earned and lost two match points in the eighth game and tortured the crowd further by being broken for the first time as he tried to serve out the match.

The players entered a second tiebreak but this time Henman kept his nerve to edge it 7-5 and keep alive hopes of ending Britain's 68-year wait for a men's Wimbledon champion.

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