Tennis: Henman digs in

Saturday 15 November 1997 19:02 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

TIM HENMAN fought back from a set and a break of serve down to reach the final of the National Championships with a 4-6 6-3 6-3 win over Danny Sapsford at Telford.

The defending champion was clearly tired after his extraordinary exploits on Friday and needed an hour and 47 minutes to overcome Sapsford.

The British No 2 had flown to Hannover to face Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the ATP World Championships after winning his quarter-final match against Jamie Delgado here and did not return until well after midnight.

Sapsford, ranked 210 in the world, and seeded fourth, looked as though he might succeed where Kafelnikov, the world No 6, had failed and, at 4-6, 1-2, Henman had to dig deep.

"I was not tired, physically as well as mentally, but Danny is an example to all youngsters of how to make the best of what you have," Henman said.

"I had to raise my game and I was pleased the way I did it. After what the sponsors and organisers had done to make my journey possible I didn't want to lose."

Henman broke back immediately for 2-2 in the second set with two unusual points in a row - a forehand stop volley which took a lucky net cord and then a high backhand smash which went for a winner from a tenacious Sapsford lob.

The world No 17 changed the pace of his game briefly but tellingly in the eighth game of the second set. Using more slice and coaxing his ground strokes with more consistency he made Sapsford play more balls to achieve the break of serve which gave him a vital cushion at 5-3.

Sapsford still managed to secure break back points in the final game of the second set and another crucial one, when Henman double faulted, in the penultimate game of the match.

When that disappeared with a scorching Henman forehand taken from the backhand side Sapsford's challenge was over.

"It was an unusual day yesterday and one I'm grateful for," said Henman, who says he will donate part of the pounds 100,000 Hannover prize money to a charity.

Henman will play Chris Wilkinson in today's final after he secured a 7-6 7-6 win against the second seed Andrew Richardson.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in