Henman wins after slow start

Tim Henman overcome his now familiar stuttering start to book his place in the third round at Wimbledon with a straight sets victory over Switzerland’s Ivo Heuberger.

Heuberger served for the opening set at 5-4 before Henman hit back to take the next three games and claim the set 7-5.

The British number one then gradually took control of the match and ran out a comfortable 7-5 6-3 6-2 winner in two hours and six minutes.

Henman will be back on court on Saturday as officials try to make up for time lost to the bad weather, and will face either Spain’s David Ferrer or Morocco’s Hicham Arazi.

Henman lost his serve on a double fault in the first game of the match and after breaking back to level at 3-3, immediately lost his serve again.

Heuberger, a qualifier who had never previously won a match at the All England Club before his first round victory over Flavio Saretta, then served for the opening set at 5-4 but Henman came up with an excellent returning game to get back on level terms once more.

He still had to save two break points to edge in front for the first time before breaking the world number 137 to love to finally take the set 7-5.

Henman struggled to beat Spanish debutant Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo in the first round, losing the first set and fortunate to save set points in the second.

Several of his matches at Wimbledon have been the tennis equivalent of an England penalty shoot-out, but with the first set under his belt he seemed to have got the measure of his opponent on Centre Court.

A brilliant topspin backhand lob gave him an early break of serve in the second set and he dropped just four points on his own delivery to take it 6-3 and remain firmly on course for a place in the third round.

Heuberger bravely saved three break points early in the third set, one of them after serving two double faults in a row, but it was clearly just a matter of time before Henman took command.

The 29-year-old four-time semi-finalist duly broke to love in the next game but, never one to do things easily when complicated is an option, then had to save three break points himself to consolidate the break.

That seemed to break Heuberger’s spirit and Henman broke serve again before completing a much improved performance with a 7-5 6-3 6-2 victory.