Henman 'confident' in clay clash

Tim Henman is "quietly confident" of maintaining his momentum on his least favourite surface as he prepares to continue his clay court campaign in Rome.  

Henman admitted he was delighted with his form in the Masters Series in Monte Carlo, where he won three consecutive clay court matches for the first time in his ATP Tour career.

And he came close to reaching the semi-finals after taking Moroccan Hitcham Arazi to a final set tie-break before losing a spectacular match 7-6 2-6 7-6.

Henman will return to England for practice next week despite the lack of red clay facilities at this time of the year.

He said: "It's not particularly easy (to practise on clay) given our climate and the opportunities to play on clay are fairly few and far between.

"But I think I've got a better understanding this year of what I need to do when I step back out on the court, and I feel quietly confident going to Rome."

Henman had beaten clay specialists Fabrice Santoro, Gaston Gaudio and Albert Costa in the tournament.

And he had plenty of chances to make it four against the flamboyant Arazi in a match of remarkable, fluctuating fortunes.

Henman was left to rue a missed set point on his serve in the first set as Arazi, whose play constantly rose to another level when he found himself in a crisis, hit back to take the tie-break.

Arazi broke Henman immediately in the second set and took a 2-0 lead but the Briton stormed back to win six straight games and assume pole position at one set all.

The Moroccan broke Henman twice in the decider but Henman immediately returned the favour before being broken for the third time to go 4-3 down.

Henman recovered again, saving two match-points in the ninth game, as he found the baseline form to match Arazi's magnificent array of passing shots from the back of the court.

But it was Arazi who whittled through the tie-break 7-2 to take the semi-final slot.