British fourth seed Tim Henman struggled past unseeded Brazilian Andre Sa 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 in 3hrs 10min to advance to the semi-finals of Wimbledon today.
Henman next meets either top seeded Australian Lleyton Hewitt or Dutchman Sjeng Schalken, the 18th seed, for a place in the finals.
"I was plenty awake from the beginning. I just dug my heels in, got the crowd going and turned it around," said Henman.
"He played some really great tennis. Conditions are not fast to say the least I had to keep fighting to get through."
But the fourth-seeded Briton was pushed all the way on Centre Court against a battling opponent, ranked 85 places behind him in the world, who was playing in his first Grand Slam quarter-final.
Henman, ranked fifth in the world, knuckled down over the nail-biting three hour, and ten minute tie to secure his fourth Wimbledon semi-final in five years and second in a row.
AFP