Tennis: Scud relishing Henman clash

7.45am

LONDON - Mark Philippoussis faces Tim Henman on Monday for a place in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. The powerful Australian expects no surprises, just a wave of patriotic support for the Briton.

"I think I know exactly how Tim's going to play," he smiled after beating Fernando Gonzalez for a tilt at 'the Tiger'.

"Everyone knows. He knows how I'm going to play. We've played each other before. I'm pretty much going to go out there and give it my best -- I'll definitely enjoy myself."

The burly Australian feels at home on Centre Court, the probable venue for the clash, and Henman holds no fears for him. He beat the British fifth seed in the fourth round here in 2000.

"I love that Centre Court," he said. "Obviously, the crowd's going to be on his side. But I've been there before.

"It's a very, very fair crowd. They enjoy their tennis.

"They're a good educated tennis crowd. They know when to clap. They're not going to clap any double faults. They're really good like that.

"But there are going to be some Aussies there, too. Definitely it will be a good atmosphere.

"For myself, I've just got to concentrate on what I do... and that's be aggressive, just try to play a solid match."

Philippoussis has undergone something of a tennis epiphany at the Championships.

Heading into Wimbledon, he had not won a tour-level match since January at the Australian Open.

Now he believes it is his destiny to triumph at the All England Club.

"I definitely... I honestly believe that I will win here one day," he said. "Whether it will be this year, who knows?

"But I just love coming out here and especially (on) that Centre Court. I love that Centre Court. There's no other court that has the same feeling, looks as good."

Those dark days since between the Australian Open and Wimbledon are firmly behind him.

"I'm healthy. It's not like, you know, the end of the world for me. So I've had a bad five months. I mean, who cares?

"The great thing about tennis is, one good tournament and then it's in the past. I mean, it's in the past for me."

Results of men's singles matches on Sunday (prefix denotes seeding):

Third round

5-Tim Henman (Britain) beat 32-Hicham Arazi (Morocco) 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 3-6 6-2

11-Mark Philippoussis (Australia) beat 24-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) 6-4 6-1 6-7 (4-7) 7-5

Alexander Popp (Germany) beat Kenneth Carlsen (Denmark) 7-5 6-4 6-4

2-Andy Roddick (US) beat 26-Taylor Dent (US) 6-3 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-1)

Joachim Johansson (Sweden) beat 17-Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (8-6) 6-3

12-Sjeng Schalken (Netherlands) beat Thomas Enqvist (Sweden) 5-7 6-2 3-6 7-6 (10-8) 6-2

Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) beat 18-Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 7-6 (14-12) 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (2-7) 7-5

Mario Ancic (Croatia) beat 25-Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) 7-5 6-3 7-5

30-Vincent Spadea (US) beat 8-Rainer Schuettler (Germany) 6-4 6-2 6-3

Florian Mayer (Germany) beat Wayne Ferreira (South Africa) 4-6 6-4 6-1 6-4

Xavier Malisse (Belgium) beat Karol Beck (Slovakia) 6-3 6-3 6-4

1-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Thomas Johansson (Sweden) 6-3 6-4 6-3

- REUTERS