2010 AEGON Masters Tennis: Todd Martin vs. Tim Henman – Semi final Review
With the quarterfinal round completed on Friday, London saw its first of the last two semi finals of the ATP Champions Tour on Saturday. Tennis legends of the past are currently competing at the 2010 AEGON Masters Tennis, playing
at the famous Royal Albert Hall, London.
Kicking off play for the day was American Todd Martin as he met local Tim Henman.
Henman made his debut in the ATP Champions Tour with the season finale event. Talking about playing in this event, Henman said, “It’s always a pleasure to play at home. This is my first event on the Champions Tour and there’s
no better way to start than at the Royal Albert Hall with a crowd like this.”
Pitted against the Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui in their opening, Henman was quick to go one up in the event after defeating the Moroccan in straight sets on Tuesday. The next day he met with old rival, Croat Goran Ivanisevic, playing
him after nine years. In a recreation of the 2001 Wimbledon semi final, Henman lost to Ivanisevic in Champions’ Tiebreak. With Ivanisevic’s win over El Aynaoui on Wednesday, the latter exited the event with a 0-2 mark while Henman moved into the quarterfinals
with one win and one defeat.
Meeting with rankings no.1 Swede Thomas Enqvist in the quarters on Wednesday afternoon, Henman got his second win in the event. He defeated the Swede in a Champions’ Tiebreak with the match score being 6-3, 3-6, 10-7.
Like Henman, Martin also made it into the quarters with a 1-1 mark. Martin ensured his qualification in his opening match on Wednesday after he defeated Aussie Patrick Cash, reducing the latter to 0-2 mark and forcing his exit
from the event. Although, he lost his match to defending champion Patrick Rafter on Friday, he still had made it into the quarters.
Martin met with French Cedric Pioline in the semi final. After twelve games, Pioline was forced to retire due to a calf injury, giving Martin an automatic entry into the semis.
As the local and the American entered the courts, they were met with a huge round of applause from the crowd. Enjoying the home crowd advantage, Henman led the score 5-4 in the first set. However, Martin bounced back to take it
into tiebreaker. With the loss of only one point, Martin rushed to the seven-point mark winning the tiebreaker 7-1. His tiebreaker winning form continued into the second set. He eventually won the second set at 6-3 as well.
Talking about his match with Henman, Martin said, “Things really clicked for me in the Tie-Break. I think it’s a matter of getting used to your surroundings, but being in the semifinals, on a court like this, in front of all
these people, it inspires an old man to do something!”.
With a 7-6(1), 6-3 win over the local, Martin goes into the final where he will face either Rafter or Goran Ivanisevic.
Wrapping up play for the afternoon session were two doubles exhibition matches one after the other. Entering the court first was the team of Jeremy Bates and Enqvist as they took on the Moroccan Russian duo of El Aynaoui and Yevgeny
Kafelnikov. Following these legends on the court was the team of Mansour Bahrami and Mikael Pernfors as they met the acclaimed Mark Woodforde and Peter McNamara.
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