Henman does it the hard way

Tim Henman twice came back from a set down against Michal Tabara of the Czech Republic to reach the fourth round of the US Open at Flushing Meadow.

The British number one had been a hot favourite to cruise past a man rated 185 places below him in the world rankings.

However, fifth seed Henman had to pull out all the stops to record a 4-6 6-3 5-7 6-4 6-3 success in just less than three and a half hours.

Tabara, a chunky 5ft 9in baseliner with a wicked double-handed backhand, had won two titles on the second tier Challenger Tour this year as he battles back from shoulder surgery in 2002.

At times, his passing shots were nothing short of brilliant and his athleticism left the crowd breathless.

However, Henman’s dogged determination and domination of the net gradually wore down his opponent as he again played through the pain of a back injury for his third tough win of the week.

Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer now lies in wait for Henman after the 19th seed swept aside Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-4 6-0 6-1.

Tabara produced some scintillating tennis to break Henman in the third game of the opening set, securing a 2-1 lead with a sublime double-handed backhand return that left his opponent flat-footed.

Henman had a chance to hit back immediately when 40-30 up in the next game, but Tabara held his nerve.

Then it was Henman’s turn to show great heart in game five as he saved three break points from love-40 down, but the rest of the set went with serve, with Tabara taking game 10 to love.

Henman began the second set far more brightly, comfortably holding his own serve before breaking Tabara to love.

The Briton extended his lead to 4-0 when breaking again two games later as Tabara’s serve began to show signs of frailty.

Frustratingly, Henman allowed Tabara to stop the rot when immediately surrendering a break of his own.

The pressure was on Henman when he served again at only 4-2 up but he responded well with an ace at 40-30 and was soon back level.

There was more good news at the start of the third set as Henman achieved another break and then quickly went 2-0 ahead.

Henman had to save four break points in a marathon fourth game, though, and when he went 15-40 down in his next service game, there was no chance of a recovery as Tabara fired home another unplayable backhand return to level at 3-3.

Henman hung on grimly for a while, but Tabara had returned to something like his sparkling early form and it was no surprise when a stunning forehand return forced the break which saw him take the set.

There was renewed hope for Henman when Tabara gifted him an early advantage in the fourth set, the Czech saving one break point before firing down a double fault.

The lead soon became 3-0 when Henman produced some sterling defensive work to thwart his opponent’s stylish flurries.

Tabara quickly struck back with a break of his own but that was the last service game dropped in the set and Henman again reached parity in the match overall.

Now it was a question of temperament and Henman showed his greater big-match experience to achieve another early break in the final set.

The Briton had to save two break points to maintain his advantage in game four and was also under pressure for a while in the sixth.

Tabara saved a break point as well in the seventh thanks to an audacious lob as Henman stood stranded at the net.

But Henman had the last word when rounding off a titanic tussle in superb fashion with a powerful forehand winner for another break two games later.