INDIANAPOLIS Cruising on confidence, Briton Tim Henman was able to flee the clutches of Younes el Aynaoui of Morocco to win a tough 4-6 6-2 7-6 (7-2) third round match at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships Thursday.
Fortunately for the seventh-seeded Henman, he was able to emerge the victor of the match just minutes before severe thunderstorms ended play for the day.
"It's nice to get it out of the way, especially coming off of the win in really close circumstances," said Henman, a finalist last week at the Tennis Masters Series-Cincinnati tournament.
"It was a tough one to get through and I'm really pleased I came through it." Top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten joined Henman in the quarterfinals with a 6-2 7-6 (7-2) victory over young American Taylor Dent.
"I think he didn't start so well," Kuerten said. "I took advantage in the first set I really played great and didn't let him have a chance.
"But in the second set, he started playing better, he raised his game a little bit more." Kuerten will face 10th-seeded Wayne Ferreira of South Africa in the quarterfinals. Ferreira, who won this tournament in 1994, but has not won a trophy since 1996, captured an easy 6-4 6-2 third round victory over Belgian Xavier Malisse.
In another third round encounter, red-hot Thomas Enqvist of Sweden, who won last week's Tennis Masters Series-Cincinnati title, increased his current winning streak to eight matches with a 6-2 2-6 6-4 win over former world number one Carlos Moya of Spain.
The fourth-seeded Enqvist will take on fifth-seeded Lleyton Hewitt of Australia in another quarterfinal match-up.
Hewitt, who leads the ATP Tour with four tournament titles this season, the first teenager since Pete Sampras in 1990 to win four trophies in a year, scored a 6-2 6-4 win over Albert Costa of Spain in the third round.
(Reuter)