Grosjean Ends Henman's Hopes
Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean ended the hopes of British No. 1 Tim Henman
with a 6-3, 6-4 victory to book his place in the final of the Stella
Artois Championships against Andy Roddick.
Grosjean followed up his quarterfinal win over three-time champion Lleyton
Hewitt on Friday with another impressive performance against Henman,
reaching his ninth career final in 1 hour, 32 minutes.
"When you beat the world No. 1 [Lleyton Hewitt] and Tim Henman on grass,
it's really good for me," said Grosjean. "I returned very well today. Tim
didn't seem to be 100 percent with his shoulder. He wasn't serving as
strong and maybe that helped me on my returns. After surgery it's always
difficult to come back, so I hope he's better for Wimbledon."
The 25-year-old from Marseille, a winner on the grass courts of Nottingham
in 2000, had lost three of his last four matches against Henman, including
their second round match at last month's Tennis Masters Hamburg on clay.
Treatment
But Henman, who needed further treatment on his troublesome shoulder by
ATP trainer Juan Reque, was unable to reproduce the form he showed that day
as Grosjean gained his revenge.
Grosjean, the No. 6 seed who took a wild card into the tournament, saved
three break points in the third game of the match before breaking Henman to
take a 3-1 lead. After holding for the first set, Grosjean stormed into a
4-1 lead in the second with two breaks and held points for 5-1 before
Henman staged a mini-fightback and held for 4-3. But Grosjean was not to be
denied his place in the final, and although Henman saved two match points, a
service winner Grosjean earned him his place in Sunday's championship match,
where he will be the first Frenchman since Guy Forget lost to Pete Sampras
in 1995.
"It's going to be tough [against Roddick]," said Grosjean. "If he serves
like he did today it will be tough. But I've got nothing to lose. I try to
enjoy myself on court and maybe that's why I'm playing well."
Credit
Henman, who underwent shoulder surgery at the end of last year, refused
to lay any blame on the injury for his loss and was quick to pay tribute
to his opponent. "I give Seb a lot of credit," said Henman. "He played
some very good tennis and made my life a lot harder. But I missed some
shots I probably shouldn't have and it cost me. But there's certainly plenty
to work on going into Wimbledon.
"[The shoulder] is just a little stiff today, but I think it had a lot more
to do with my opponent. It's just an accumulation of serving more
aggressively and the balls being a bit heavier, but I don't anticipate
it being a long-term problem."
The British No. 1, a finalist on three occasions at The Queen's Club, was
philosophical about his defeat, adding: "I hadn't played a succession of
matches, so that's got to be a positive thing for me to take from this week.
But it still doesn't hide my disappointment of not getting into another
final here and possibly winning for the first time."
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馬上少年過 世平白髮多 殘軀天所赦 不樂是如何
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※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.csie.ntu.edu.tw)
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