2004 Oct 28 - Henman tested by Moodie

Tim Henman kept alive his hopes of winning the Davidoff Swiss Indoors title for the third time as he battled past South African Wesley Moodie 7-6(2) 6-7(0) 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals of the Basel tournament.

In the first set Tim was under pressure from the big serving South African but still managed to earn five break points, albeit failing to convert any of them. With the set going with serve a tie-break followed and it was Tim who made the early mini-break and forced home the advantage 7-2.

The second set was also dominated by serve and would be resolved by another tie-break. This time Wesley was flawless as he racked up point after point for 7-0.

A deciding set followed and it seemed as if we were destined to witness a tie-break decider. But with the score 5-4 and Wesley serving to level, Tim turned up the heat to earn three match points and converted the third.

After the match Tim said:

"It was a long match but a good match to come through and physically I feel ok.

"It was so tight and although I felt like I was dominating in patches, unless you break serve you have nothing to show for it so there was an element of relief to have come through."

In the quarter-finals Tim will be up against the useful Czech Jiri Novak. They have played each other four times but significantly it is the Czech who has been victorious in their last two meetings.