Beck Ends Henman's Hopes as Upsets Continue

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The upsets continued at the Stella Artois Championships on day three, as Karol Beck ended local favourite Tim Henman's hopes of claiming his first title at The Queen's Club with a dramatic three-set victory.

Beck, who won last week's grass court title in Surbiton, saved one match point on his way to a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(6) win - his first over a Top 10 opponent in eight attempts.

"It's the biggest win of my career," said Beck. "To beat Tim in front of his home crowd is very special for me. I'm very happy."

It was just the second time Henman has lost his opening match at Queen's in 11 appearances - four years after his loss to Bob Bryan. Henman's shock exit follows those of No. 2 seed Guillermo Coria and No. 3 seed Andre Agassi.

Henman, who reached the semifinals at Roland Garros on clay last week, struggled to cope with the grass and his opponent, who raced into a 5-1 lead in the opening set. The Briton, three times a losing finalist at The Queen's Club, was also forced to save break points in the opening game of the second before finally starting to find his game.

Backed by the capacity Centre Court crowd, Henman broke to lead 4-2 in the second set and eventually forced a decider. After Beck saved a break point at 4-4 with the 11th of his 13 aces, the Slovak then had a match point on Henman's serve in the following game, but the Briton produced a deep second serve which Beck sent long.

In the tie-break, Henman got the mini-break and led 4-2 as the players changed ends, but then delivered his fifth double fault of the match to surrender his advantage. A magnificent backhand half-volley from Henman at 5-5 produced the Briton's first match point of his own, as the crowd sensed their man was going to get himself out of another tight situation. But Beck surprised Henman with a drop shot followed by a forehand lob that landed well inside the baseline, and two points later, dealt Henman the final blow with a crushing forehand return to seal a famous victory in 1 hour, 54 minutes.

"I was a little bit nervous before the match, but I started great," said Beck. "I broke him and made some great returns, then I started to get focused. He wasn't playing well in the first set. I was a little bit unlucky on the break point in the second set, but I told myself I was just unlucky and to concentrate on the third set. The drop shot on match point was also a surprise for me, and I was very happy to win the match."

Despite the defeat, Henman remained positive about his game and said there's no reason to panic. "I'm disappointed right now, but in the context of my Wimbledon preparation, I don't think it will have any bearing at all," said Henman. "I'm playing very, very well. Today, in the first set, he played some great tennis and was by far the better player.

"The second set, I started to play better myself and he donated his serve with three errors and a double fault. In the third set, we got ourselves into a tight situation out there. I had a break point [at 4-4] and he came up with an ace, I had a match point and he produced a drop shot and a lob, and I ended up losing the match. I'm disappointed to lose but in the context of the way I'm playing I don't think it will hurt my preparation.

"Making the transition from clay to grass is something I need to work on and that's what I'll be doing over the next 10 days."

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