Tim Henman shrugged off an early setback to reach the semi-finals of the US Open for the first time tonight, completing a 6-1 7-5 5-7 6-2 defeat of Dominik Hrbaty.
The British fifth seed came tantalisingly close to victory last night, cruising to a two-set lead when rain returned to halt his smooth progress.
Henman held serve at 4-5 in the third when play resumed today but two games later a netted approach shot gave Hrbaty the set and a glimmer of hope.
But Henman, who had never gone beyond the fourth round at Flushing Meadows before this year, quickly regained control, breaking the Slovakian twice to set up a meeting with Roger Federer or Andre Agassi.
