http://www.atptennis.com/en/newsandscores/news/2004/rotterdam_friday.asp
ABN AMRO WORLD TENNIS TOURNAMENT
Rotterdam
FEBRUARY 20, 2004
Henman Ends Federer's Streak
Britain’s tennis ace Tim Henman triumphed over INDESIT ATP 2004 Race leader, R
oger Federer, 6-3, 7-6(9) Friday at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in a b
attle of wills. The first set was knotted at 3 games-all when Henman won three
straight to capture the first set. Federer was up a break twice in the second b
efore Henman battled back to force a tiebreak.
Federer, whose last loss on tour came to Henman at the BNP Paribas Masters last
October, had five set points in the second set, but he was unable to defend hi
s 16-match winning streak and falls to 1-6 lifetime versus Henman. Henman’s 20
04 singles record improves to 8-2. Henman, who went on to win in Paris, now has
won nine consecutive matches indoors.
Defending champion Max Mirnyi of Belarus defeated Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen in
the pairs first meeting, 6-4, 7-6 (3). Mirnyi looks to be the fourth player to
win back-to-back championships at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in
Rotterdam. Repeat champions include Nicolas Escude in ’01 and ’02, Stefan
Edberg in ’87 and ’88, and Arthur Ashe in ’74 and ’75.
Sixth seed Lleyton Hewitt improved his 2004 record to 12-1 after downing third
seed Rainer Schuettler 7-6 (5), 6-3. Hewitt advances to the semifinals for the
second time in 2004 and will battle it out with Tim Henman, as the Australian l
ooks to win his first indoor title in more than a year, since winning the 2002
Tennis Masters Cup to finish the 2002 season. The Aussie holds a 6-0 lifetime r
ecord versus Henman.
In the day's final quarterfinal match, Juan Carlos Ferrero, the No. 2 seed, kno
cked out a Dutchman for the second consecutive night, while going the distance,
7-6 in the third set for the second consecutive night as well. Last night, it
was a dogfight with John Van Lottum. On Friday evening, Ferrero took out last y
ear's finalist, Raemon Sluiter, the hometown star from Rotterdam who was lookin
g for his fourth consecutive semifinal appearance at an ATP event in Holland (R
otterdam 2003 - F, s'Hertogenbosch 2003 - SF, Amersfoort 2003 - F).
Ferrero needed seven match points before closing out the Dutchman in 2 hours an
d 3 minutes.
SEMIFINAL PREVIEW
Sixth-seed, Australian Lleyton Hewitt, faces fifth seed Tim Henman in Saturdayꄊ存 blockbuster semifinal matchup. The Australian, who finished the 2002 season
as World No. 1, is looking to enter the top five of the INDESIT ATP 2004 Race w
ith a strong showing here and extend his winning streak to 13-1. He has not bee
n among the top five of the Race since last April. Henman, who maintains an IND
ESIT ATP Entry Ranking of 21, is playing in his second semifinal in just over a
month after reaching the last four in the opening ATP event in Doha. This will
be the pair’s first meeting since the 2002 Wimbledon semifinal won by the eve
ntual champion, Hewitt, and their first meeting indoors since 2000.
In the second semifinal, Juan Carlos Ferrero follows up two consecutive 7-6-in-
the-third matches with a tough match-up against defending champion Max Mirnyi.
Ferrero and the big-serving Belarussian have never played before. A win by Ferr
ero in Rotterdam could vault him into second in the INDESIT ATP 2004 Race by pi
cking up 50 points giving him a total of 141 points. Marat Safin, who currently
has 140 INDESIT ATP 2004 Race points, did not play this week.
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