Grosjean Sets Up Duel With Roddick

French tennis has a strength in depth that Britain, to its discredit, has only dreamt about in recent years, and Tim Henman, meeting his third Frenchman in three days, could cope no longer, succumbing to Marseille's Sebastien Grosjean 6-3 6-4 in a disappointingly one-sided semi-final of the Stella Artois Championship.

The match was a bit of a letdown after a thunderous first semi-final in which Andy Roddick won a third-set tiebreak 8-6 against fellow-American Andre Agassi. Roddick, 20, kept clanging down massive serves until, in the second set, he equalled the world's fastest, a delivery of 149mph - the mark that Greg Rusedski set in Indian Wells in 1998.

A bigger concern for Henman than losing was having to summon a physio on court at the end of the second set to rub what he called a hot cream into his right shoulder, the one that was operated on last autumn and caused him to miss the first six weeks of the season. He said the shoulder became a bit stiff from serving aggressively and the use of heavier balls. Asked if it was a worry, he said: 'I don't think so. It's always at the back of your mind, but if I'd been in the final tomorrow I'd be raring to go.'

Disappointed as he was at losing so heavily, Henman said he did not regard having made it to the last four of a tournament that attracted its strongest field for years as anything other than a bonus. It took him nearly three months to secure his first three wins of 2003, the same number that he managed in the space of four days on the way to yesterday's meeting with Grosjean. Assuming his shoulder is indeed all right, he is in far better shape for the start of his Wimbledon challenge than seemed possible a few weeks ago.

More so than at Wimbledon, Henman, the expensively nurtured Oxfordshire lad, is among friends at Queen's, the club in west London for the well-heeled and the well-connected. It is the place where he trains and where he knows many of the members through the social network to which his family belongs. Support in his matches is guaranteed, even if it is not of the baying-mob variety (although by late afternoon some of the Pimm's drinkers can get a little over-exuberant).

The crowd were soon behind him yesterday and Henman began auspiciously enough by serving an ace. He did not produce another, though, until right at the end. In fact, his first serve was something of a disaster and without it ever functioning properly he was always under pressure. The only time he might have taken a grip on the match was when he had three break points in the third game. Having failed to convert any of them, he promptly dropped serve himself to fall behind 3-1, a deficit he was unable to close. Grosjean then won four of the first five games in the second set to cut off any escape routes Henman might have been contemplating.

'He played well,' said Henman. 'He has a deceptive first serve, which, because he is small, comes through low, and from the back of the court he is strong and dangerous.' Even so, Henman is probably wondering along with the rest of us how he managed to beat Grosjean on clay, the Frenchman's favourite surface, in Hamburg a month ago, and then lose to him so comprehensively on his own preferred surface yesterday afternoon.

Roddick, with his gunslinger's walk and pick-the-bones-out-of-that serve, is becoming an increasingly fearsome presence on court - particularly a fast grass court - and his thrilling 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (8-6) victory over Andre Agassi in the other semi-final provided powerful evidence that he may be more than just a good outside bet for Wimbledon.

Agassi, 33, who will regain the world number-one ranking from Lleyton Hewitt tomorrow despite yesterday's loss, battled all through a boiling afternoon to contain the Roddick serve, managing only one break point in the first set, which he failed to convert, and none at all in the second. In all, Roddick unleashed 27 aces - to his opponent's four - including five in the sixth game of the second set, the slowest of which thundered past Agassi at 133mph. When Agassi did eventually break the Roddick serve in the third set to take a 3-2 lead, he uncharacteristically allowed his concentration to wander and the younger man broke back straight away.

Both men showed signs of tension as the match developed into an absorbing struggle between power and guile after Roddick had careered through the opening set in 19 minutes. In the second-set tiebreaker, Agassi received a warning for what tennis politely calls an audible obscenity after Roddick slipped and left an open court, which Agassi somehow managed to miss.

In the third set, Roddick might have been similarly censured when he threw a mini tantrum in the game in which Agassi broke him for the first time. He could not believe it when a line judge did not call an Agassi forehand long and continued registering his disgust at the changeover.

Agassi said: 'As far as speed goes, Andy is right up there with his service. I was fortunate to even have a chance of winning because of the way he was serving and the way I was striking the ball, which wasn't very convincing.'

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