2004 Nov 18 - Henman defeats Coria in Masters

Tim Henman gave himself every chance of qualifying for the semi-finals of the Tennis Masters Cup as he wasted no time in defeating the Argentine Guillermo Coria 6-2 6-2 in Houston, USA.

The British No.1 lost his opening group match against American Andy Roddick which meant a second defeat would have left Tim bottom of the BLUE group with no chance of finishing in the top two positions.

Andy Roddick won his opening match against Guillermo Coria and today booked his place in the semi-finals by defeating Russian Marat Safin in straight sets 7-6(7) 7-6(4).

BLUE Group

1. Andy Roddick (2-0)

2= Marat Safin (1-1)

2= Tim Henman (1-1)

4. Guillermo Coria (0-2)

This means the winner of Henman v Safin will qualify for the semi-finals. It also means that there is nothing more to play for than pride in the Roddick v Coria match as the American has already qualified for the semis and the Argentine cannot qualify even if he wins.

After his match today Tim said:

"It's nice to have a performance like this.

"He's struggling with his serve. It's easy to fall into a trap. If you let him dictate in the rallies he can be very dangerous. It's nice to go out there and play with the discipline."

And of the forthcoming match with Marat he added:

"I've given myself an opportunity. I felt like it would be a big match. I'm looking forward to it. "He is the form player right now but I'm pretty happy with how I've been playing."

In the other half of the draw - the RED group - the Swiss Roger Federer has already qualified for the semis and either Spaniard Carlos Moya or Australian Lleyton Hewitt will join him.

RED Group

1. Roger Federer (2-0)

2= Lleyton Hewitt (1-1)

2= Carlos Moya (1-1)

4. Gaston Gaudio (0-2)

The remaining matches in the RED group are Federer v Moya and Hewitt v Gaudio.