Tim rallies to beat Bjorkman
Tim Henman got Great Britain off to a winning start in their Davis Cup World Group clash with Sweden in Birmingham today.
The British No1 beat Jonas Bjorkman 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 in front of 10,000 wildly enthusiastic fans.
It was sweet revenge for Henman who was beaten in straight sets by Bjorkman in the Australian Open fourth round less than two weeks ago.
Yet the Briton had made a hesitant start today in front of a crowd that included England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson and his partner Nancy Dell'Olio. Bjorkman was the more impressive on serve and only dropped two points in his first three service games, while Henman struggled with the area of his game that was so disappointing in Australia.
Henman had vowed before this match to prove he could increase the speed of his redesigned serve but, just as the fans were starting to doubt his words, the 27-year-old suddenly hit his stride.
The Briton held twice to love and then made the first break of the match with the help of a woeful forehand volley which Bjorkman put long to send the crowd wild.
Henman created two set points and only needed the first to take the set in 39 minutes with a brand of tennis that would have made him so much harder to beat in Melbourne.
Bjorkman started to make an impression on his opponent and made Henman fight hard to take the second set 7-5 with the home favourite squandering five set points.
The third set was a mess with both players unable to hold serve and Henman starting to make errors with his ground strokes.
This weakness eventually told with Bjorkman breaking for a third time to take the set 6-4.
It appeared the momentum was all with Bjorkman as he broke to lead 4-1 as Henman looked to the crowd for inspiration.
They responded as he fought back brilliantly to level the set at 4-4.
The next two games went to serve before Henman broke Bjorkman's serve again to lead 6-5.
Henman then missed one match point before making sure with the next when Bjorkman hit a forehand out of court to take the set and the match.
