Resurgent Henman eases through

Tennis: Rain pushed the men's two scheduled quarter-final matches yesterday deep into the evening with Tim Henman not arriving on to court until 6.40 p.m. for his match against Juan Ignacio Chela. Still, the British number one pressed home his case 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 before any question of bad light arose.

In victory Henman became the first British man through to the semi-finals of the French Open since Mike Sangster in 1963. Fred Perry remains the only British player ever to win it, which he did in 1935. Henman, a keen golfer, ought to take care though. Some time after his semi-final appearance, Sangster was struck by lightning on the golf course and subsequently died.

Still, Henman has caused heads to turn and in now going on to face a more durable opponent Guillermo Coria - who began his match against Carlos Moya earlier and was the first player in the men's draw to come through to the semi-final - Henman has disabused his critics that he cannot play on clay. Coria seed third, defeated the Spaniard 7-5, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 and is now the tournament favourite.

Ninth seed Henman had control of his match from the moment he sprung from his court-side chair, anxious to get proceedings moving along. Breaking Chela in the first game and again for 5-2, he easily served out the set for a striking lead.

Again playing a mix of backcourt trades and coming to the net whenever the occasion arose, Henman broke Chela's service early in the second set for 2-1. Again, his concentration remained steadfast and Chela rarely looked like upsetting the momentum.

Finally, one break of service in the third set provided Henman with the platform he needed to serve for the match. Despite a little stutter, when he offered Chela the first couple of points, Henman never wavered, fittingly finishing the match with a volley in just one hour and 50 minutes.

Coria has had an easy passage thus far and has played just three sets in each match, except in the last round, where opponent Nicolas Escude retired injured after the first set. Yesterday was also his eighth straight match win against a Spaniard.

Moya, a winner here in 1998 had not reached a semi-final since and yesterday looked no more likely to do it again against one of the dynamos in the men's draw. Coria, who had lost only one match out of 21 played on clay this year took just two hours, 25 minutes to dispose of the more experienced 27-year-old Moya.

Typically the game was played entirely from the back of the court with Coria playing the big points best in the tight opening sets. In the entire match, he won only 15 points off the baseline.

Taking the first set 7-5, and then needing a tie-break for the second, the third fell into his lap more easily as Moya offered little that could sting his younger opponent. Lively around the court and obviously fresh from his less turbulent run to this stage, Coria has now equalled his best run ever at Roland Garros, which was last year.