MONTE CARLO, Monaco – Morocco's Hicham Arazi thwarted the
comeback effort of Tim Henman, beating the eighth-seeded Briton
7-6, 2-6, 7-6 (2) Friday in the quarterfinals of the Masters Series
Monte Carlo.
In other matches, second-seeded Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil,
ninth-seeded Sebastien Grosjean of France and teen-ager Guillermo
Coria of Argentina also made it to the semifinals.
Grosjean, who will play Arazi in Saturday's semifinals, beat
Switzerland's Roger Federer 6-4, 6-3. Kuerten, the French Open
champion, rallied to beat Dutchman Sjeng Schalken 6-7 (1), 6-2,
6-4.
Kuerten will play Coria, 19, who scored one of the biggest wins
of his career, beating Spanish qualifier Alberto Martin 6-3, 4-6,
6-3.
"It's frustrating to lose a match like that," said Henman, who
had beaten Arazi in eight of their nine previous matches. "We both
played good tennis, but we didn't play great tennis at the same
time."
In the final set, the psychological advantage seesawed between
them as Arazi produced passing shots of great accuracy and Henman
hit a series of winning backhand volleys.
Arazi, who is unseeded, broke twice to lead 3-0 before Henman
took the next three games.
At 5-3 down, Henman saved two match points, then rallied to go
ahead again 6-5, with Arazi serving to avoid defeat. With an
opportunity to end the match, Henman sent forehand and backhand
shots wildly off court or into the net.
In the tie-break, Henman lost the match on another error,
sending the ball past the baseline.
"At 5-6 and 15-30 down in the third set, I thought the match
was over for me," Arazi said. "Tim ... made a few unforced
errors."
The $2.95 million tournament is the first major clay-court event
of the year.
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ALSO SEE
Friday's results
Henman, Federer advance to Monte Carlo quarters
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