Britain's Tim Henman survived a stiff test of his character and grasscourt credentials to kill off a gallant challenge from veteran South African Wayne Ferrira to reach the last sixteen at Wimbledon today.
The fourth-seeded Henman beat the 30-year-old Ferreira 7-6 (8/6), 3-6, 7-6 (10/8), 6-1 in three hours and 29 minutes in front of a packed and excitable Centre Court crowd to book a fourth round clash with unseeded Swiss Michel Kratochvil who put out Czech qualifier Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-3, 6-3.
In the women's singles, veteran American Monica Seles took another step towards an elusive first Wimbledon title when she came from behind to beat battling Japanese girl Ai Sugiyama to move into the last sixteen.
Britain's only survivor in the women's third round Elena Baltacha went down to experienced Russian Elena Likhovtseva 6-4, 7-6 (7/2).
Henman's match turned on a controversial overrule by umpire George Diaz when Ferreira was leading 4-1 in the third set tie-break.
The linesman saw a passing shot from the South African as good but Diaz called the ball out and Ferreira eventually lost that crucial third set and quickly lost heart in the fourth as the decision clearly weighed heavily on him.
"The overrule was tight and that was probably the turning point," said Henman.
"It was really close and it could have gone either way. Wayne's a great competitor and a good returner, but the crowd really gave me a great lift."
There was a huge incentive for Henman to do well.
He went into the match as only one of three seeds remaining from the top 16 and having defeated Ferreira in four of their six career meetings including their only grass court clash in the semi-finals at Queen's last year.
Veteran Ferreira was making his 13th consecutive appearance at Wimbledon and playing in his 47th Grand Slam tournament, a record only bettered by Sweden's former champion here Stefan Edberg who played in 54.
Henman was quickly into his stride breaking the South African in the third game to lead 3-1 and then held on to extend his advantage to 4-1.
At 5-3, Ferreira, who was sluggish at the start, a legacy of his marathon five set win on Thursday over Ivan Ljubicic, saved two set points breaking back to 5-4.
Henman then had another two set points on the Ferreira serve in the 10th game but the South African saved them, the second with an ace before clinching the game to go 5-5.
The Briton stopped the rot to hold serve to lead 6-5 before Ferreira also held to take the first set into the tie-break where the South African had his first set point which he wasted with a netted volley on the eleventh point.
Henman then earned his fifth set point with another poor volley by his opponent on the 13th point and wrapped up the opener 8-6 after 66 minutes.
But Ferreira, a quarter-finalist here in 1994, broke in the eighth game of the second set on his way to taking it 6-3 and then grabbed the first break in the third to lead 2-1.
In the third set, Henman had three set points in the tenth game all of which were saved by the gallant Ferreira as they again headed for a tie-break.
The Briton then needed four more set points before the South African netted a running forehand volley to hand Henman a two sets to one lead after three hours as Ferreira brooded over that controversial overrule moments earlier.
He was still unsettled in the fourth set where Henman broke serve three times with the Briton wrapping it up with a fine stop volley.
Meanwhile, the fourth seeded Seles, with nine Grand Slam crowns to her name but still missing a Wimbledon victory, defeated the 26-year-old Sugiyama 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in 97 minutes to book a match-up against Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn in the fourth round.
Tanasugarn, seeded 20, advanced to the fourth round for the fifth straight year thwarting a fightback from unseeded American Meilen Tu to win 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 in one hour, 42-minutes.
The American will go into that match with the edge having beaten the Thai in all their previous matches.
"I'm playing against someone who really likes to play on this surface," said Seles who admitted that grass was always difficult for her to play on.
Bulgaria's Magdalena Maleeva also booked her spot in the fourth round with a 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 win over 10th-seeded Italian Silvia Farina Elia and now faces Likhovtseva for a place in the quarter-finals.
In the men's singles, Andre Sa won the battle of the Brazilians with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 win over countryman Flavio Saretta to set up a fourth round clash with Feliciano Lopez of Spain who beat German 17th seed Rainer Schuttler 3-6, 7-6 (9/7), 6-4, 6-4.
AFP