Hewitt retains Queen's title

13 April 2012

Lleyton Hewitt successfully defended his Stella Artois Championships title with a straight sets win over Tim Henman at Queen's Club.

Hewitt held his nerve the better on the key points to complete a 7-6 7-6 victory on Centre Court after earlier beating Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras in their delayed semi-final.

The Australian will now be hoping for better luck at Wimbledon in a week's time. After beating Sampras in the final 12 months ago he went out in the first round at the All England Club.

Henman held a narrow lead at 6-5 in the first set when the players were briefly forced off court by rain but Hewitt maintained his concentration on the resumption to hold serve and force a tiebreak.

The number three seed then took a grip on the tiebreak from the start, Henman putting a forehand out on the first point and in fact gifting Hewitt the first five points he scored with a number of errors.

A double fault then gave Hewitt four set points and he converted the second of those to take the tiebreak 7-3.

An epic second set could have gone either way with Henman doing superbly to save six break points over two service games to remain on level terms.

And he looked set to make the most of such resilience when he finally broke Hewitt's serve to lead 5-4 and serve for the set.

But Hewitt produced a brilliant game when it mattered most, coming up with four winners to level the scores at 5-5 and then saved two more break points to lead 6-5.

Henman held his nerve to take it into a second tiebreak but then missed a simple overhead volley and put a straightforward forehand into the net to give Hewitt three match points which he gratefully accepted to clinch victory after two-and-a-quarter hours.

"To beat two of the favourites for Wimbledon in Pete and Tim in one day is great," said Hewitt whose celebrations will be limited as he plays another grass court tournament in Rosmalen next week.

Henman, who had earlier come back from a set down to beat Wayne Ferreira in the semi-finals, said: "I can't have any complaints. I would have loved to have won obviously but when I look at my game it gives me a lot of positive vibes."

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