Hewitt whips Henman to
reach Wimbledon final

A lion-hearted performance from Lleyton Hewitt has left Tim Henman's Wimbledon dreams in tatters once more, the Australian crushing the fourth seed 7-5, 6-1, 7-5 in their semi-final.

Not even the collective will of a nation could save Henman from the ferocious nature of Hewitt's groundstrokes nor the burning intensity of the Australian's desire as he tore victory from under Henman's nose in two hours, 19 minutes on Centre Court.

"It's incredible," Hewitt said. "Wimbledon means an awful lot to all the Australians back home.

"I am kind of speechless right now. I just got on a roll. I was seeing the ball like a football out there it was so big and I was hitting the ball right in the middle of the racket every time."

The victory sweeps top seed Hewitt into his first Wimbledon final. For Henman it means an agonising fourth semi-final defeat here in five years.

Henman had been bidding to become the first Briton to reach the final of the men's singles since Bunny Austin in 1938. The last Briton to lift the trophy was Fred Perry two years earlier in 1936.

In the other semi-final between 28th seed Argentine David Nalbandian and 27th seed Belgian Xavier Malisse, play was suspended for the night at as a result of bad light.

Both the players were level with two sets each, 7-6 (7/2) 6-4 1-6 2-6.

DISAPPOINTING DEFEAT

But the disappointing defeat under grey rainy London skies spells yet another missed opportunity for Henman and the 27-year-old will have to wait at least one more year for a chance to fulfill his life's dream.

Despite serving and volleying with great fluidity and poise, Henman simply had no answers for the ferocity and velocity of Hewitt's returns and passing shots throughout the one-sided contest.

Tearing into his shots with gusto, it was the Australian who started the stronger and Henman could not keep up with him as the match wore on.

Hewitt edged a tight first set with some dogged retrieving and determined running, covering every blade of grass on Centre Court.

Rain forced the pair off after 70 minutes with the Australian leading 7-5 and 3-0 and when they returned an hour later Hewitt pulled away.

A bout of quick-fire volleying and two return screamers brought up three break points in the sixth game and Hewitt converted the third when a backhand pass clipped the net and skipped past the stranded Henman at the net.

U.S. Open champion Hewitt calmly served out to take the second set 6-1 and leave Henman facing another painful defeat.

PUNCHED BACK

The Australian continued to strafe Henman's side of the court with tracer bullet-like forehands and the Briton cracked once more in the third game.

Facing increasing pressure on his serve, he buckled and threw in his first double fault of the match to hand Hewitt his fifth break of the match and a 2-1 lead in the third set.

With one eye on the final, world number one Hewitt was irrepressible. He edged closer to victory winning each service game with ease until the 10th game of the set when Henman had one last throw of the dice.

Opening his shoulders on his returns he earned two break points on the Australian's serve and clinched it on his second when Hewitt netted a forehand.

Stung by having his serve broken, Hewitt, who calls himself 'the rock', punched straight back, breaking Henman for a 6-5 lead with a hoisted lob which landed near the baseline and spun away and out of reach of the scampering Briton.

The break gave Hewitt a second chance and he made no mistake this time. Henman saved the first match point with a brave backhand but Hewitt clinched victory on his second with a 116 miles per hour (186.7 kph) ace before dropping to one knee and emitting a roar of delight.