Henman's title dreams destroyed by the young gun from Croatia

People were warned not to go down the tube yesterday, but Tim Henman could not help himself. Strike? Struck, more like. The British No 1's dream of a Wimbledon title was crushed for another year by Mario Ancic, a 20-year-old Croat who grew up hitting with Goran Ivanisevic and, unfortunately for Henman, developed a lot of his hero's power.

People were warned not to go down the tube yesterday, but Tim Henman could not help himself. Strike? Struck, more like. The British No 1's dream of a Wimbledon title was crushed for another year by Mario Ancic, a 20-year-old Croat who grew up hitting with Goran Ivanisevic and, unfortunately for Henman, developed a lot of his hero's power.

Henman was defeated 7-6, 6-4, 6-2 after two hours and 12 minutes. After losing a tight, tense opening set, however, his prospects quickly diminished as his opponent gained in confidence shot by shot.

Although ranked 63rd in the world, Ancic has been gathering momentum for several years and yesterday on Centre Court he showed exactly what he is capable of. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of his display was the coolness with which he took his chances and ensured that the vastly experienced Henman would not get back into the contest.

The fifth-seeded Henman, who overcame Mark Philippoussis of Australia, a more accomplished power player than Ancic though perhaps lacking the Croat's finesse in his court craft, was unable to raise his game against an eager, younger opponent.

It was vital for Henman to make an emphatic start and let Ancic know that this was his arena, his promised land. At 2-2 in the first set it seemed that an early break would come Henman's way. He returned Ancic's second serve well enough to cause the Croat to miss a volley for 30-40. But Ancic responded with a thumping ace struck at 131mph. That alone made many in the crowd wonder how Henman would combat such velocity.

Henman was in trouble serving at 3-4, foxed by a backhand lob which put him down 30-40. Henman missed his first serve on the break point and was relieved when Ancic drove a forehand into the net after the second serve. Both players spoke afterwards about the high quality of the opening set, and it is undeniable that the standard of tennis was breathtaking at times and that the added uncertainty made viewing all the more enthralling.

Henman resisted playing the more conservative style of alternating his attacking game with play from the back court. He continued to press forward and he looked as likely as Ancic to make the first decisive move, at least until he served at 5-6 and was passed by a forehand cross court return which gave his opponent set point. Ancic was unable to keep a forehand drive in court and Henman hit two winning serves - at 127mph and 125mph - to push the set to a tie-break. Ancic was the steadier in the shoot-out, securing two mini-breaks to 2-5.

Henman rescued one of them with a potent return of his own, but when Ancic moved to 6-3 the faces in the crowd became more worried. Henman saved the second set point with a backhand volley and also hit a good serve on the third set point. Ancic, serving at 6-5, missed his first serve but his second was strong enough to make it difficult for Henman to avoid hitting a forehand return over the base line on the fourth set point.

So after 57 minutes, Ancic had overcome the most testing part of his day. Henman, on the other hand began to lose sharpness in his play and his confidence began to suffer after a series of double faults - five in his first three service games of the second set. The first three did not damage him, but then, at 2-2 he served a double fault at 30-15 and then at 30-40 to lose the game.

Surprisingly, Ancic then followed suit with serving errors of his own, with double faults to 30-40 and again to lose the game, bringing Henman back to 3-3.

For a moment it seemed that Henman had found inspiration and would turn the set around and perhaps take control of the match. Rather than that, he was immediately under pressure from Ancic's returns and was broken to love as the Croat emerged from the three consecutive service breaks leading 4-3. He was never seriously challenged after that.

Henman reached the semi-finals at the French Open last month having recovered from being two sets down in a Grand Slam championships for the first time and he managed to do that twice. Yesterday on home turf he did not have the power to escape again. He was broken in the third game of the third set to love after a double fault to love-30. This subdued his supporters even more, while the Croats in the crowd began to chant: "Mario!'' and even "Super Mario''. Ancic responded by breaking a second time for 4-1 with a spectacular backhand cross court pass and a forehand return down the line.

''You can do it Tim!'' cried an optimistic voice from the stands. But Henman could not do it. Not this time. He took Ancic to deuce before the Croat held for 5-1 and then managed to hold for love.

At that juncture Ancic calmly stepped up and served out the match to love, hitting a 131mph ace on the first point, 129mph ace on the second point and a forehand volley and, on that point, a serve that defied a return.

The crowd showed their appreciation of the young man's excellent display of nerve, efficiency and attacking tennis, and he tapped his racket in response. Henman walked disconsolately to his chair, packed away his rackets and walked off with his conqueror, giving the crowd a poignant wave before disappearing from Centre Court for another year.