BRITAIN'S Tim Henman's attempt to win the final of the Qatar Mobil Open in Doha ended in failure against former world number one Jim Courier yesterday.
But despite going down by two sets to one to the American, Henman, the British number one, was pleased with his tournament performance and is now full of confidence for the Australian Open which gets under way next week.
The match, with 11 breaks of serve, swung first Courier's way, then Henman's, and decisively back again to Courier, who won 7-5 6-7 (5-7) 6-2.
Courier eased through the first set to take it 7-5, but in the second set Henman (22) showed the form which took him to the final - his first of the ATP tour.
First he forced the set into a tie-break and with the score at five apiece, gritted his teeth to win the vital next two points. But winning the set seemed to disturb Henman's concentration for 10 vital minutes - he later admitted it was the turning point in the match.
Courier broke twice and held his own serve to cruise into a 4-0 lead. There was no way back for the Henman and Courier eventually won the final set 6-2 after two hours and 28 minutes on the court.
Said Henman after the match: "I can look back on the match and say I definitely gave 100 per cent. It was a very good quality match. But when you get to a critical stage and you eventually hang on, I suppose there is an element of relief and that's why your intensity levels drop.
"It probably only happened for five or 10 minutes but you can't let that happen against a player like Courier. Suddenly it was 4-0 and there was no way back.
"On the positive side, I am playing better and better. I have had a great week and it's given me lots of confidence for the Australian Open and it should improve my ranking."
Said Courier: "The first two sets were very close but in the third I got going early and I played solidly. I'm happy with that."
In Sydney, Australia, the former Australian Open champion, Mary Pierce, yesterday ousted fifth seed Irina Spirlea of Romania, in a first-round match at a warm-up event before next week's Australian Open in Melbourne. The Canadian-horn, US-based French player defeated Spirlea 6-3 4-6 6-4 on the first day of the Sydney International. The men's singles lost Australian Mark Philippoussis because of tendinitis in his right forearm. Philippoussis, who beat world number one Pete Sampras at last year's Australian Open, yesterday practised with top seed Goran Ivanisevic for 30 minutes before the injury forced him off court.
Tournament director Barry Masters said Philippoussis, who ended last year ranked 30th, was advised by doctors not to hit balls for the rest of the week so he could recover for the Open.
Top women seeds Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Martina Hingis, Iva Majoli and Lindsay Davenport have all received byes into the second round and are not expected to play before tomorrow.
Meanwhile Boris Becker has said in a magazine interview he still hoped to be world number one again but intended to quit the game within three years.
"For as long as I play tennis, being number one will be the ultimate dream," Becker, currently ranked sixth, told Der Spiegel, according to an advance release from today's edition.
"I'm glad to have been there once but 12 weeks was a bit short. I have the capability and a lot of things can happen in the next six months. I won't make myself crazy but I know that at the end of the road I could he number one."
Becker said he was determined to have retired by the time his son started school in three years and already had a dream for the way he wanted to quit. "Something along the lines of just before the match point at Wimbledon against Sampras which will make me world number one, saying to myself: `Boris, this is your final service'.
