Henman, Blake Move into Semifinals

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Britain’s Tim Henman kept his dream of a first Stella Artois Championship firmly alive after an impressive 6-3, 7-6(1) victory over Dmitry Tursunov in the quarterfinals.

It was Henman’s first win over the Russian in four meetings, and means he is now through to his fifth semifinal at The Queen’s Club.

“I'm pleased with the win, obviously,” said Henman. “I tend to start worrying when you've lost to someone eight times in a row. So, three, that was a long way to go.”

Henman, the World No. 76 who is unseeded here for the first time in 10 years, came into the match full of confidence after straight-set victories over Andre Agassi, Ramon Delgado and Nicolas Mahut.

And the three-time runner-up seemed determined to carry his momentum against Tursunov, the American-based Russian who has knocked Henman out of three of the last four Grand Slam tournaments.

Henman quickly opened up a 3-0 lead in the first set with a double break, but his lead soon evaporated as the powerful Russian began to find his game.

Four breaks in the opening six games set the tone for the rest of the match, which had 12 breaks in total. But after seeing his early advantage slip away, Henman took the next four games to close out the first set and lead 1-0 in the second.

Everything seemed to be going according to plan as Henman broke again and led 4-2, but back came Tursunov once again, as he took the next three games and served for the set at 5-4. The Russian had a point to level the match, but a calamitous spell in which he produced his third double fault and a missed an easy overhead gifted the break back to Henman.

As the set went into the tie-break, the 31-year-old Henman stepped up his game when it mattered most, winning six consecutive points to book a place in the semifinals where he will meet either top seed Rafael Nadal or three-time champion Lleyton Hewitt.

Commenting on the unusual amount of service breaks, Henman said: “I think that's not necessarily the norm on grass, but I just think with the nature of his game, it can be so up and down. I think the reason why he's so difficult to play is because a lot of it is out of your control. He has so much power and he can be so erratic, you feel like you're reacting a lot out there. It's more difficult to be proactive, and that's why mentally you've got to accept that and expect that and deal with that and keep plugging away. That's exactly what got me through in the end of the second set.”

Meanwhile, James Blake was given an easy passage into the semifinals when his opponent, rising French star Gael Monfils, retired at the end of the first set with a back injury. Blake, the No. 5 seed, won the opening set 6-1 in just 21 minutes before Monfils called it a day. The injury meant the teenager was forced to withdraw from his doubles match and the tournament in Nottingham next week.

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