By Matthew Cronin
INDIAN WELLS, California, March 18 - Britain's Tim
Henman saved a match point before stunning third seed Andy
Roddick 6-7 7-6 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the Pacific Life
Open on Friday.
In the women's event, former champion Lindsay Davenport
continued her assault on her third title, fighting off three
second set points to defeat French 19th seed Natalie Dechy 6-2
7-6 to reach the final.
Volleying brilliantly and capitalising on Roddick's weaker
backhand, the ninth-seeded Henman never folded mentally despite
squandering 4-2 leads in the opening two sets.
"I'm more aware of my own game now," the Paris Indoors
champion said after winning his 10th straight match at a Tennis
Masters Series event.
"It's been a long process of learning to believe in myself
and feeling relaxed out there, but I know I'm capable of playing
very well."
Even though Roddick battled back from a break down to steal
the first set with a cute forehand volley drop shot to win the
tiebreaker, Henman never strayed from his game plan, which was
to attack the Roddick backhand at all costs.
Henman raced out to a 4-2 lead in the second set, but
Roddick broke back to 4-4 when the ninth seed dumped a forehand
into the net.
Serving at 5-6, the Briton faced a match point but was able
to power a 114-mph serve into the American's body that Roddick
could not handle.
Henman played an almost perfect tiebreaker, while the U.S.
Open champion uncharacteristically committed six unforced errors
and managed to win only one point.
In a tense third set, Henman continued to press and
converted on his third break point to lead 5-3 when the American
pushed an easy overhead wide.
Henman, who reached the final here two years ago, served out
the two-and-a-half hour match in impressive fashion, winning the
contest when he clubbed a forehand crosscourt winner.
THIRD WIN
In beating Roddick for the third time in four matches,
Henman ended the contest with 55 winners to 38, and won 52 of
his 77 net approaches.
He next lines up against the winner of the James
Blake-Irakli Labadze quarter-final later in the day.
Third seed Davenport has never lost to Dechy and appeared
well on her way to victory up a break early in the second set,
but the Frenchwoman battled back with a series of crosscourt
blasts.
Dechy held three set points with Davenport serving at 5-6,
but after the Frenchwoman missed a backhand return, Davenport
crushed four straight winners, evening the contest with a 99-mph
service winner.
"I played well when I was down. I really felt from that
point on (the saved set points) I was able to step into the
court more and dictate," Davenport said.
In an impressive tiebreak, Davenport made only one unforced
error and ripped six winners, ending the contest when she buried
a forehand into the corner and sent down a 105-mph ace.
Davenport will face either top-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne
or fifth ranked Anastasia Myskina in the final after the pair
clash in the final match of the night.
"I'm really happy I've been able to break thorough and get
to the finals again. I had a relatively easy draw but I was
still able to come through," Davenport added.