Stylish Henman through to final

Henman's performance was one of his best

British number one Tim Henman booked his place in the final of the Pacific Life Open with a stunning performance against old adversary Todd Martin.

Henman swept Martin aside 6-3, 6-3 and will now meet the world number one Lleyton Hewitt in Sunday evening's final at Indian Wells.

It was possibly Henman's greatest ever performance outside of the lush lawns of the All England Club.

I'm really going to relish that challenge - I don't feel like I've got anything to lose

Tim Henman on facing Lleyton Hewitt

A delighted Henman said: "It's great that I am playing the big points so well. The first set was really, really close. He had opportunities but I played the big points better.

"When I had an opportunity on his serve, I was able to really take it."

The first set went with serve until the sixth game when Henman broke for the first time.

It stayed with serve until the ninth game when the Briton served out the set.

Sublime shots

But if the opening set was a mild test of Henman's powers, the second set was an exhibition.

Martin looked a beaten man from the start of that set as Henman broke his serve to take a 0-1 lead.

The American held his next service game but the one after that saw the British player break again to go 4-1 up.

After Henman held his own service game with some sublime shots, Martin held his serve and then broke for the very first time in the match, making it 5-3.

But Henman broke back immediately to close out the match, winning the second set by the same 6-3 margin as the first.

Hewitt defeated 10th seed Pete Sampras 6-2 6-4 victory - his fourth consecutive win over the American and his 17th straight win on US soil.

Hewitt is now 5-4 up against Sampras

Hewitt is now 5-4 up in career meetings against Sampras, who was completely off his game.

The 21-year-old Australian will play for his second title in as many weeks on Sunday.

An unforced error count of 30 and four double faults summed up Sampras' miserable form.

Sampras has now gone 23 tournaments without a title, the 30-year-old American's last triumph coming at Wimbledon in 2000.