Henman masters home favourite Ferrer

14 April 2012

Tim Henman's resurgence gathered pace as he reached the last 16 of the Madrid Masters yesterday.

From a mid-summer low of 76th in the world, Henman can now train his sights on finishing the year inside the top 32 - and with it a guaranteed place in the Australian Open next January - after beating Spaniard David Ferrer 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.

Henman's second-round victory over 14th seed Ferrer meant he had eliminated a second Spaniard less than 24 hours after knocking out Madrid's Fernando Verdasco.

The British No 2 , who reached the Japan Open final earlier this month before losing to Roger Federer, beat Verdasco in straight sets.

The 32-year-old maintained his momentum by racing through the opening set against Ferrer with two breaks of serve.

But the next set was anything but comfortable, with 24-year-old Ferrer breaking swiftly to establish a 3-0 lead. He extended his advantage to 5-2 before Henman broke back to reduce the margin to 5-4.

However, Henman's service let him down in the next game. From 30-30, he double faulted and then sent a forehand long when he was under little pressure to gift Ferrer the set.

There was no telling how Henman, currently ranked 41st in the world, would react to the setback. But he responded in the best imaginable way, with a double break of the Ferrer serve.

Spurred on by the support of the partisan home crowd, Ferrer clawed a break back to trail 3-1 but Henman ended the Spaniard's hopes by winning three successive games to seal an impressive victory.

Sixth seed Andy Roddick used his powerful serve to see off Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 6-4, 7-6.

The American took advantage of his only break point on his way to taking the first set. It was level pegging in the second set but Roddick used his serve to good effect to win the tie break, wrapping up the match with a trademark ace.

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