When the end arrived it was humane. No time even for weary flag-waving, no wringing hands, no lapses in Lleyton Hewitt's relentless baseline beat. So swift and one-sided was the victory that salvation for Tim Henman came only with the closing of the match 7-5, 6-1, 7-5.

Henman was simply hit by a powerful locomotive. That the impact was caused by a profanity-driven tyro, two inches shorter and six years younger, made little difference to the destruction delivered on the game and hopes of the British fourth seed.

The manner of the world number one's crushing of the British dream will no doubt save Henman from any public excoriation. There was no choking from Henman, no tactical lapses and, in the end, no excuses. None were necessary.

Hewitt found the zone and remained there for two hours, 19 minutes. His game, dusted down and refitted from its untidy condition against Sjeng Schalken in the quarter-final, was presented to Henman gloriously pristine.

The three-set win also extended Hewitt's win record over Henman to six and puts him in the Wimbledon final for the first time in his career. His thoughts now will rest on becoming the first Australian Wimbledon champion since Pat Cash won the title in 1987.

Hewitt will know little about his opponent, except that it will be the unheralded 20-year-old Argentinian David Nalbandian or the 21-year-old Belgian Xavier Malisse.

Malisse required medical attention during the rain-delayed match yesterday for stress-related heart palpitations. It is not the first time the 21-year-old has suffered from the condition, which required him to take to the locker room and remain horizontal for five minutes during the second set.

Nalbandian, only the second player after John McEnroe to reach the semi-finals here on his debut, has never set foot on Centre Court and is playing in only his fourth Grand Slam event ever. The match is currently tied at 7-6, 6-4, 1-6, 2-6, Malisse having come back from two sets down before play was suspended for bad light.

A comeback was never a possibility for Henman. Hewitt gave a perfect illustration of how close he is to the peak of his game in the third game of the third set. Seemingly chasing down a lost cause, the Australian lurched yards outside the court to retrieve a Henman volley on his backhand side.

Not only able to put a racquet on the ball, Hewitt returned it at least a foot around the outside of the net-post, the ball curling into the corner leaving a splayed Henman in wounded disbelief.

"I played really well, came out of the blocks well at the start," said Hewitt afterwards. "I felt I've been hitting the ball great the last four weeks as soon as I came on the grass. You know I was prepared to lay it all on the line out there today. I like playing on the big occasions, the big matches."

The players exchanged breaks in the first set to take the match to Henman's serve in the 12th game, where a lob from the Australian and two passing shots offered Hewitt three break points and the set.

Playing from the back court with venomous returns off both sides, Henman continued to grapple with the intensity of his opponent's game, Hewitt coming out after the 55-minute rain break spitting fire and dominating the second set, 6-1.

Henman tried to mix up his play to loosen the Australian's stranglehold and managed to break back for 5-5 in the third set.

Even that flicker of hope was quickly extinguished, Hewitt breaking back immediately for 6-5 and serving out for the match 7-5.

"You know, until I walked up to shake hands, I didn't think it was out of his reach of coming back, you know, taking it to five sets," said Hewitt.

"There was a lot of tight situations. Early in the first set he had chances to go up an early break. Could have changed the whole match."

Henman appeared as he always has afterwards, the embodiment of Kipling's poem, If, stoic and in defeat taking it like a man. Goran Ivanisevic would have been straight out the gate with a $10,000 dollar fine on his head for not attending interviews. But Henman, as we suspected, is the pussycat, not the Tiger.

"Certainly the way that he (Hewitt) plays and the way that he adapts his game to any surface, he is the best in the world," said Henman.

"And again today he proved that. Of course he can be beaten. If sport was a guaranteed thing, then it wouldn't be as popular as it is. Whoever he plays in the final will obviously be very, very motivated. But I'm sure the odds are massively in his favour."

It is the fourth Wimbledon semi-final Henman has lost, the first Hewitt has won.