TENNIS: It was one of those days the British media corps cursed Tim Henman for his frailties, then reclaimed him as a national treasure as he survived a match point and snatched the match. Having to go to five sets to beat Michael Llodra and seriously test the ability of his body to shake of the virus he has being carrying, Henman also made history.

In winning and advancing to the quarter-final, at Roland Garros, the 29-year-old became the first Briton since Roger Taylor in 1973 to travel so far into the draw. When Slade were making a serious impact in the pop charts and Gary Glitter had no jail record, 10th seed Taylor travelled the same road before losing to Ilie Nastase, who was then clowning his way towards the trophy.

Henman, seeded nine, barely shifted a face muscle as Llodra whooped and whipped the Parisian crowd, especially in the third set as he set about trying to reverse the trend the English player had begun after losing the opening two sets.

It is not like Henman to dig a two-set hole and then climb out of it but yesterday he again displayed his talents at their best, as well as an impressive vein of determination. At 6-7 (2-7), 4-6 down, he collected the next two sets 6-4, 6-3 before needing two service breaks of his opponent in the fifth to win the match 9-7.

Henman opened that final set by breaking the wildcard's serve before Llodra came back in the fourth game to again draw level. The match continued with serve until the 15th game, Henman crucially breaking and serving out. He won 12 out of the last 13 points played and now meets the Argentinian 22nd seed Juan Ignacio in the quarter-final. They have met twice on clay, each winning one.

Of his 26 career five-set matches, he has now won 13 and lost 13 but more importantly, Henman seems to have marked out a sea change in the way he plays his tennis, or rather he has adopted a much more durable attitude.

"I had no direction. I was serving milk floats. My tennis was rubbish," he said. "If I believe I am the best volleyer in the world, then why play baseline?"

And so the transformation began with the binning of his coach Larry Stefanki 10 months ago after the US Open. Since then, Henman has toughened and yesterday's win was the first significant demonstration that the changes have worked.

He has become more aggressive and has constructed a new game around his strengths. His concentration has also improved, the Englishman dramatically cutting down on the number of times his mind wanders off.

"I remember in one match noticing a woman in the crowd above me carrying three pints of beer. I started worrying about her spilling one over me," he said.

The win is also his first Grand Slam quarter-final outside of Wimbledon. But he still needs improvement.

"I've got to play better on Tuesday but I'm through to the quarters and that's the important thing," he said.

"My big focal point is my commitment to my style. For the first hour and 40 minutes I was playing the wrong way. I certainly lost my rhythm.

"That's not a good thing . . . it's character building. I was reactive, not proactive and that's something I have to avoid. It's not my style. Sure there are some negatives but I won.

"I need to play better on Tuesday. If I do that and lose I have no complaints. If I don't play the right way then you feel you've let yourself down."