Henman sees off Moya

12 April 2012

British No 2 Tim Henman moved into the second round at the All England Club after coming through an epic four-hour contest with Carlos Moya.

The pair resumed on Centre Court after bad light forced a halt on Monday, with the match at 5-5 in the deciding set.

The first 13 games on Tuesday went with serve, but Henman broke the Spaniard in the 24th game to wrap up a nailbiting 3-6 6-1 7-5 2-6 13-11 victory.

When the players returned Henman was quickly into aggressive mode, smashing away the first point, winning his service game to 15 and pumping the air.

That was the first job done, but Moya promptly held his serve.

The court had the gladiatorial air of a shoot-out as Henman's fans cheered his every point and roared him back to the baseline after each changeover.

The advantage was with Henman, who had the benefit of serving first, but both men showed composure as the tension grew.

Service game after service game went by, Henman at times clinging by the slenderest of threads when he survived break points in the 23rd game of the set.

But the breakthrough came in the very next game although Henman still made hard work of it, two more match points going the way of the four he squandered yesterday.

When the end came it arrived courtesy of a Moya double fault. Not the best finish but Henman did not care. He had shown he can still be a force on grass and now has a second round match against Feliciano Lopez to progress in the tournament.

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