Henman stages stirring comeback
Henman stages stirring comeback
By Nyree Epplett
Sunday, May 30, 2004
British hope Tim Henman shook off his Roland Garros demons, fought off a
match point and staged a stirring comeback to charge into his first quarter
final here on Sunday.
Henman recovered from a two-sets-to-love deficit for only the third time in
his career to overcome French wildcard Michael Llodra 6-7(2) 4-6 6-4 6-3 9-7
in four hours, 11 minutes on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Under cloudy Parisian skies, the serve-volley specialists traded blows at the
net, together venturing past the service line an overwhelming 171 times.
The British No1 recovered from a break down to take the third set, and then
utilized one service break to steal the fourth. He surged to a 2-0 lead in
the decider before the 94-ranked Llodra momentarily turned the match back
in his favor.
With the parochial crowd on his side, the Frenchman pulled off the point of
the match, retrieving a brutal Henman smash and whipping it back past the
dazed Brit at the net. Henman double faulted to hand the break back to the
Frenchman who appeared to have the momentum needed to close out the contest.
Henman bravely staved off a match point on his serve at 4-5 in the fifth, and
then struggled on his next few service games before breaking the Frenchman to
go up 8-7. He completed the victory by taking his final service game to love.
He blasted 78 winners past Llodra on his way to a quarter final clash with
Argentine No22 seed Juan Ignacio Chela.
Apart from his pet Grand Slam - Wimbledon - Henman had never previously
progressed past the fourth round of any Grand Slam. His best result at
Roland Garros was a third round appearance in 99, 00, 01 and 03.
LENGLEN - Men's Singles - 4th Round 1 2 3 4 5
Michael Llodra FRA 77 6 4 3 7
Tim Henman GBR (9) 67 4 6 6 9
Match facts
Henman has now reached the fourth round or better at all four Grand Slam
events.
Henman has now matched the best result by a British player here in the
Open era (which came when Roger Taylor reached the quarters in 1973).
Henman’s record on clay this year is 10-3.
Llodra’s record on clay this year is 8-3.
Henman has 11 singles titles; Llodra is yet to win a title.
Henman’s record against Frenchmen now stands at 44-20.
Henman’s victory over Saulnier in the first round was only his second
career comeback from two sets to love down.
Llodra has competed at Roland Garros as a wildcard on all but one occasion,
the exception being last year when he was a direct acceptance.
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