Henman through in thriller

By Caroline Cheese
BBC Sport at Wimbledon

More match photos All the action as it happened

Tim Henman came through a dramatic match against Mark Philippoussis 6-2 7-5 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-5) to reach the last eight.

Henman made the perfect start, breaking the big-serving Australian immediately.

The Briton broke again to take the first set and snatched the second after a controversial line call, but the Aussie dug deep to win a tight third set.

As dusk fell, Philippoussis fought off two match points at 5-2 and recovered a break but Henman eventually triumphed after a tense tiebreak.

"I lost my serve for the first time in the match when I served for it, but I had to keep fighting, stayed strong mentally and thankfully finished it off," he told BBC Sport.

"The atmosphere in the last set was phenomenal. I'm just relieved to get through and have a day off on Tuesday."

Tight calls are the nature of game Tim Henman Henman savours victory

The British number one, who has a habit of starting matches slowly, was off and running immediately against last year's Wimbledon finalist, breaking with a stunning backhand down the line.

Rocked by some fizzing Henman returns, Philippoussis delivered two double faults at 1-3 and the 'Scud' was broken for a second time before Henman wrapped up the set in just 24 minutes.

In a closer second set, the Briton was denied a break point at 4-4 when a Philippoussis second serve was called in, much to Henman's disgust.

Television replays proved Henman was right - but the tables were turned two games later.

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Henman earned a break point at 5-5, and this time it was Philippoussis appealing to the umpire when the Briton's desperate lob looked to have dropped wide.

No call came and Henman shrugged off the controversy to serve out the second set to love.

"Tight calls are the nature of game," Henman said.

"Balls are flying around at 130mph and it's a tough job to be a line judge. Some calls go in your favour, some don't."

It took until midway through the third set before Henman had to face a break point, which he saved, and he soon survived a set point with an unreturnable first serve.

I was clearly upset and showed it, but it was spur of the moment Mark Philippoussis Philippoussis apologises

At 6-5, Philippoussis was again upset by a line call and launched a bitter tirade at the umpire - who handed him a warning for an audible obscenity.

It only served to fire up the Australian and he rattled through the ensuing tie-break to give himself hope of a comeback.

The tension increased in the fourth set, but the fifth seed produced a forehand winner to break for 4-2 to send the crowd inside Centre Court and on 'Henman Hill' into raptures.

But, this being Henman at Wimbledon, the drama was far from over.

Henman saved a break point before earning two match points at 5-2 - but the Australian survived and then produced a series of winners to stop Henman serving out the match.

But in the tiebreak, Henman managed to find some scintillating groundstrokes to finally break Philippoussis' spirit.

On his fifth match point, the Australian fired a backhand return wide to prompt ecstatic scenes around Wimbledon.

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