2004 Mar 15 - Henman defeats Corretja

Tim Henman outplayed the Spaniard Alex Corretja in the third round of the Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells (USA) to secure a convincing 6-4 6-4 victory.

The first set was on serve at 5-4 with the Spaniard needing to hold serve to keep himself in the set. But forehand errors crept in which Tim took full advantage of to take the first set 6-4.

In the second set Tim quickly ran to a 2-0 lead only to relinquish his slender advantage immediately afterwards. Undeterred, the British No.1 applied yet more pressure on the Corretja serve to break him for the second time in the set, a lead which he then held to take the set 6-4.

After the match Tim said:

"I'm certainly happy to win. It's a long time since I've played Alex. I was excited about the match.

"I think in all honesty there were aspects of my game that I could have done a little bit better. But, when you win in straight sets, I think it's important to really focus on the positive aspects.

"I was competing pretty well. When I was at the net, my volleying was pretty solid.

"I just think that middle part of the second set was when perhaps I gave him a little bit too much rhythm. I didn't get forward as much as I'd like.

"That's when he was looking dangerous, because he had time to set up on his groundstrokes, and he was the one that was dictating the play.

"Then in the last couple of games, when actually the initiative swung again, I was the one moving forward and giving him less time. That's when I'm putting more pressure on him."

In the forth round Tim will face the Australian Wayne Arthurs, who came back from a set down against Jonas Bjorkman to win his third round match 4-6 6-2 6-3. Tim has reason to feel confident about their encounter as he has never lost to the Australian - they met twice in 2001 at Queens Club and the Australian Open.