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Henman relieved by Hewitt`s ouster
London, June 14: Tim Henman bids for a place in his fourth Stella Artois final safe in the knowledge he will not have to face his nemesis Lleyton Hewitt. The Australian has beaten Henman at Queen`s for the last two years and in each of their six encounters on the ATP Tour.
London, June 14: Tim Henman bids for a place in his fourth Stella Artois final safe in the knowledge he will not have to face his nemesis Lleyton Hewitt. The Australian has beaten Henman at Queen's for the last two years and in each of their six encounters on the ATP Tour.
But the world number one was defeated in straight sets by Sebastien Grosjean in the quarter-finals on Friday - his first reverse here in four years - and it is the speedy Frenchman that Henman now faces. The British number one struggled in his opening two matches but looked almost back to his best against Anthony Dupuis in the quarter-finals. Yet Henman, 28, admits Grosjean will be a far more testing opponent than any he has faced in the tournament so far.
"Grosjean is going to be a step up. He's won a tournament [Nottingham 2000] on grass before and has just beaten Hewitt," said the seventh seed. "He's playing well, serving aggressively and is very, very quick from the baseline."
Henman admitted he was slightly relieved not to be facing Hewitt.
"Having not beaten him in six matches, playing him is never something you look forward to," he said.
And the Briton insisted Hewitt would still be a dangerous proposition at Wimbledon, despite the Australian's indifferent recent form.
"Going into Wimbledon I'm sure he'll be one of the favourites," Henman said.
The other semi pitches the best of the old and new wave of American tennis together. Andre Agassi, 33, and 20-year-old Andy Roddick have both been in extremely impressive form at Queen's so far.
Number two seed Agassi has not dropped a set at this year's tournament, while third-seeded Roddick has seen off grasscourt players of the calibre of Greg Rusedski and Taylor Dent.
Yet if their head-to-head record is anything to go by, Agassi should be a convincing winner. The duo have played each other four times and the veteran has won each time.
In fact, he has dropped only one set in the process, although that came in their last meeting, in Houston a few weeks ago.
"We played a pretty good match in Houston so it's good to play again so soon," Roddick said. "It's nice that last time I had him pretty close, because the other times have been awful scores for me. It's hard to have rivalry when you're just being beaten all the time."
Bureau Report
But the world number one was defeated in straight sets by Sebastien Grosjean in the quarter-finals on Friday - his first reverse here in four years - and it is the speedy Frenchman that Henman now faces. The British number one struggled in his opening two matches but looked almost back to his best against Anthony Dupuis in the quarter-finals. Yet Henman, 28, admits Grosjean will be a far more testing opponent than any he has faced in the tournament so far.
"Grosjean is going to be a step up. He's won a tournament [Nottingham 2000] on grass before and has just beaten Hewitt," said the seventh seed. "He's playing well, serving aggressively and is very, very quick from the baseline."
Henman admitted he was slightly relieved not to be facing Hewitt.
"Having not beaten him in six matches, playing him is never something you look forward to," he said.
And the Briton insisted Hewitt would still be a dangerous proposition at Wimbledon, despite the Australian's indifferent recent form.
"Going into Wimbledon I'm sure he'll be one of the favourites," Henman said.
The other semi pitches the best of the old and new wave of American tennis together. Andre Agassi, 33, and 20-year-old Andy Roddick have both been in extremely impressive form at Queen's so far.
Number two seed Agassi has not dropped a set at this year's tournament, while third-seeded Roddick has seen off grasscourt players of the calibre of Greg Rusedski and Taylor Dent.
Yet if their head-to-head record is anything to go by, Agassi should be a convincing winner. The duo have played each other four times and the veteran has won each time.
In fact, he has dropped only one set in the process, although that came in their last meeting, in Houston a few weeks ago.
"We played a pretty good match in Houston so it's good to play again so soon," Roddick said. "It's nice that last time I had him pretty close, because the other times have been awful scores for me. It's hard to have rivalry when you're just being beaten all the time."
Bureau Report