Henman waits to learn next opponent

Tim Henman is due to learn this afternoon the next obstacle to his dream of becoming the first British man to lift the Wimbledon singles crown for 67 years.

The British number one will face the winner of the match between Sebastien Grosjean and Juan Carlos Ferrero, whose fourth-round encounter was halted by fading light last night with the Frenchman leading by two sets to one.

Whoever prevails, revenge is bound to be a huge incentive for Henman, who was beaten by Grosjean at Queen's two weeks ago and by Ferrero at the French Open last month.

After defeating Argentina's David Nalbandian 6-2 6-7 7-5 6-3, however, Henman was delighted to be in the next round with the cheers of the crowd ringing in his ears, though he knows there is no place for complacency.

"It's a great opportunity and I could not be happier," said Henman. "But I know if my level drops I'll lose. If I keep doing the right things I've got a great opportunity. It was nice to have got the job done."

And he saluted the part played by the Centre Court fans and his legion of admirers who packed the famous Wimbledon hill.

"In the last four games, with the crowd support, that's what tennis is all about," said Henman. "It was a phenomenal atmosphere and much appreciated.

"The crowd support is always pretty incredible but they chose their moments. It was late. Everyone was eager to finish it off. They gave me such a lift and it was a pleasure to play in an atmosphere like that."

The match, which lasted three hours and one minute, finished in the Wimbledon gloom at 8.38pm and the BBC were forced to switch the Six O'Clock news to BBC2 and delay EastEnders.

For Henman the soap opera goes on and with Andre Agassi falling to Mark Philippoussis the dream of a Wimbledon final is getting ever closer.

Henman showed his mental strength in particular against Nalbandian, winning the third set which contained seven service breaks, three of them on the Henman delivery.

"It would have been easy to become negative having been up a break of serve on a number of occasions and not being able to establish the break," said Henman.

"On a number of occasions when I lost my serve I said, 'I lost my serve. It's no big deal. I'll keep breaking him.' That's what I did."

At 6-5 and 30-30 in that third set Henman also produced his biggest serve of the championship, a 126mph ace which gave him set point and the momentum to take control.

"It was a pretty simple mindset at that stage," he said. "I was just going to throw it up and hit it as hard as I could. That's pretty much what happened."

Henman planned to have a gentle practice hit today before watching the rest of the Grosjean-Ferrero encounter.

"I'll enjoy hitting balls for 40 minutes and then see them slug it out for a fourth and maybe a fifth set," said Henman.

"Grosjean played really well at Queen's but my game has come on massively.

"People might count Ferrero as a clay-court specialist but that's unjust. He's an Agassi sort of player, quick around the court and with a great return of serve.

"Given the conditions though, I feel I can break every service game. Guys can't stand up and get easy points here and I can still be more aggressive on grass than clay."