Henman struggles through to last eight

Tim Henman was made to work hard to reach the quarter-finals of the Swiss Indoors tournament yesterday before eventually overcoming South African Wesley Moodie in the second round.

Tim Henman was made to work hard to reach the quarter-finals of the Swiss Indoors tournament yesterday before eventually overcoming South African Wesley Moodie in the second round.

The British No 1 and the top seed here, after Roger Federer withdrew, won 7-6, 6-7, 6-4.

Moodie was able to answer almost every question Henman threw at him as the first two sets went to tie-breaks, but it was the Briton who edged through to face the Czech Jiri Novak in the next round.

Henman won the first set after neither player was able to break the other's serve. Henman, the world No 4, then asserted his authority in the tie-break, going 5-1 ahead before clinching the set when Moodie, ranked No 171, hit a wayward return.

Another tie-break was required to separate the two in the second set, and this time it was Moodie who prevailed. The South African strolled through it 7-0 to take the match into a deciding set.

Moodie seemed to be able to match whatever Henman produced in a contest which was always close. As the final set progressed, Henman was making life difficult for himself and only superb recoveries made up for some slack errors.

Having failed to convert any of his break points during the match, Henman let two match points slip from his grasp as Moodie produced aces on both occasions. Henman, however, set up a third opportunity to win and the Briton's return put Moodie under pressure, the South African fired his shot into the net. Finally, Henman had made the most of a break point - and it gave him the match, which lasted almost three hours, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4.

* The former world No 2 Magnus Norman, of Sweden, announced his retirement from tennis yesterday after a long battle with hip and knee injuries.