Henman makes last four

British number one Tim Henman wins in straight sets

Tim Henman reached the last four of the Rotterdam World Indoor ATP tournament with a solid 7-5 6-3 win over Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic.

The British number one now faces big-serving Croatian Ivan Ljubicic in the semi-final, who earlier defeated qualifier Ivo Heuberger of Switzerland 6-3 3-6 6-3.

Runner-up in Rotterdam in 1999 and 2000 Henman had to work hard for his victory.

Seeded six, Henman admitted prior to the match that he would be unable to defeat Ulihrach from the baseline but he chose to abandon his trademark serve and volley game during the first set.

Tim Henman will now face Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic

After each taking a break of service during the first set, Henman then wasted three set-points at 6-5 up before Ulihrach double faulted.

The second set saw both players struggle to hold serve and unforced errors allowed Ulihrach to break Henman in the second game.

Henman responded well and immediately stepped up his game to break Ulihrach's next two service games.

Holding his serve, the Briton took a commanding 5-2 lead but took three match points to clinch the match 6-3.

Easy passage

Nicolas Escude booked his place in the semi-finals by beating seventh seed Roger Federer in a repeat of last year's final.

Federer enjoyed a walkover in the last round when Thomas Enqvist withdrew from their second-round match with flu.

He took the first set 6-3 against Escude and had chances to claim the match in a second set tie-break.

But Escude eventually took the breaker 10-8 and claimed a crucial break late in the third set to clinch it 7-5.

Sebastien Grosjean completes the semi-final line up after his victory over Arnaud Clement.

The fourth seed defeated his fellow Frenchman 7-6 (10-8) 6-3 to set up the clash with Escude.