Timid Tim books a date with Hewitt

Henman finds unsung Dutchman hard to subdue but scrapes through to face world No 1

This afternoon's final of the Stella Artois tournament at Queen's Club will be a repeat of last year's, with Tim Henman and Lleyton Hewitt contesting the first prize of £84,200 but, more importantly, seeking the boost of a title with only a week to go until Wimbledon.

Both saw off Dutch opposition, but in vastly different circumstances. Hewitt defeated the tall Sjeng Schalken, ranked 34th in the world, in relative comfort 7-6 6-3, but Henman struggled to subdue Raemon Sluiter 6-7 6-4 6-2. Victory for Hewitt would be his third successive Queen's title, a feat last achieved by John McEnroe in 1979-81, and yesterday's win was his 14th in succession here.

It was the second day Henman had struggled against deeply inferior opposition, having lost the opening set in Friday evening's quarter-final against the amiable Korean Lee Hyung-Taik before pulling himself together. The British No 1 produced an identical performance against Sluiter, who is ranked 81 in the world and arrived in London not having won a match on the ATP circuit this year. Sluiter's progress to the semis was assisted by two opponents retiring hurt.

Perhaps it was something to do with the fact that Sluiter strikes the ball two-fisted on both forehand and backhand, but Henman could not read what was coming. Having achieved an early break to go 2-1 up, Henman promptly lost serve and in the first-set tie-break played three appalling shots in sucession to find himself facing three set points and shaking his head in bewilderment. Two were saved on brave forehand winners but Sluiter clinched the set at the third opportunity with an ace that Henman argued, correctly but vainly, was wide.

Clearly frustrated by his inability to seize control against someone whose black T-shirt marked a new sartorial low for Queen's Club, Henman slammed a ball out of court after netting a simple volley in the fourth game of the second set and was given a code-of-conduct warning by the Irish umpire, Fergus Murphy. When he followed this by dropping serve, Henman was in peril of humiliation.

To his credit, he dug deep and came up with the goods, breaking back for 3-3 and levelling the match when Sluiter dropped serve to go set-point down and then opted to let a Henman cross-court forehand fall inside the line.

Rain then forced an 80-minute delay and the break seemed to have reinforced Henman's determination. Though needing to save three break-points on his own delivery, Henman successfully attacked Sluiter and was rewarded with a win he will be glad to put behind him.

For Hewitt, the world No 1 sporting a new No 1 haircut, the victory over Schalken was highly impressive but strangely achieved. Having said goodbye to his back-to-front cap and lopped off his ponytail, the 21-year-old Australian struck 13 aces, more by placement than power. But he did not play a single volley until he was two points from victory.

Schalken, too, favoured the baseline as an operating base and as a result the Queen's audience were treated to the sort of lengthy rallies more associated with clay-court tennis. One lasted for 32 shots. There was a sedateness about the first set until it reached the tie-break stage, when you could almost hear the gears whizzing as Hewitt revved up. He started driving the ball hard into the corners, reached set points with his seventh ace and then induced a backhand error to capture the set in 54 minutes.

When Hewitt maintained the fiercer pace, Schalken was not at the races. He gleaned a mere four points on the Hewitt serve in the second set and it was all over in one hour 25 minutes. However, the Hewitt was not totally happy. "I give myself seven out of 10 for my grass-court play at the moment," he said, adding that he had been 10 out of 10 when he defeated Henman in last year's Stella final. Victory over Pete Sampras at last September's US Open final was also a 10-out- of-10 occasion.

As for not bothering with volleys, Hewitt pointed out: "If I am returning well from the baseline and dictating my service games I don't need to go into the net that much. Volleying is another dimension to my game." Hewitt, who won last year's final 7-6 7-6, forecast: "The final will be tough because Tim obviously loves this time of the year. Last year's final came down to a few points here and there, and I don't think it will be any different this time round because Tim has a lot of expectation and pressure on him but handles it extremely well."