Moya ends Henman run

Henman should be pleased with his best showing on clay

Carlos Moya beat Tim Henman 6-4 5-7 6-3
Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Sebastien Grosjean 6-3 1-6 6-0

 Photo Gallery: See the match in pictures

Tim Henman fought a valiant battle in a bid to reach his first clay-court final, but eventually succumbed to former world number one Carlos Moya.

In a game which fluctuated throughout, Moya came through 6-4 5-7 6-3 to secure a place in the final against fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Henman had already broken new ground by becoming the first Briton to reach a clay-court semi-final since Buster Mottram more than 20 years ago.

And he was always likely to be up against it against the clay-court specialist Moya, a former French Open champion.

But Henman was pleased with his overall performance and said: "I feel I can take a lot of confidence from this. I can go away knowing I've given my all in every match.

"I've got all the tools to do some damage on this surface."

A tough contest

At one stage Henman hinted that he might just produce another fine win as he came back from a set and 3-1 down to take the second set 7-5.

Henman then broke Moya in the first game of the third set and appeared to be in the ascendancy.

But Moya reeled off a run of four straight games, and served out to clinch the third set 6-3.

The Spaniard admitted it was a close contest and said Henman "gave me problems with his attacking game, but I got through in the end".

Grosjean comfortably won the second set

Moya's opponent in the final, Ferrero, had to battle the elements as well as Sebastien Grosjean to win the other semi-final.

Heavy rain, thunder and lightning twice halted the match, but second seed Ferrero eventually took his place in the final with a 6-3 1-6 6-0 win.

The stop-start nature of the game probably contributed to the erratic nature of the match.

Although Frenchman Grosjean had fought back to lead 5-0 in the second set when the players were forced off for the first time.

When play continued, Grosjean took the set but was broken to trail 2-0 in the decider before play was suspended once more.

And the Frenchman was unable to find any form when they returned and Ferrero won without losing any further games.