Tim Henman (#6) vs. Harel Levy (Quarterfinals)
Henman leads series 1-0. (2000 Hong Kong - Hard - 1st Round - 4-6, 6-1, 6-4)

Tim Henman has been one of the hotter players on the tour this season boasting a 14-3 record (including two wins here this week) and one tournament title in Copenhagen. He has only dropped nine games en route today's match, the fewest of any quarterfinalist. His opponent, Harel Levy, rose to prominence last year when he reached the final of the Tennis Masters Series Toronto losing to Marat Safin but has started the year off slowly with a 2-5 record.

Henman opened the match strongly on serve including a 123 mph ace in the first game. However, after that the Brit's game crumbled on his own serve, losing two service games to give Levy a 4-1, two break advantage in the opening set. While Henman's game is quite beautiful when it is "on," it is quite the opposite when it is not. Henman was particularly weak on his forehand side for much of the first set and making all types of forehand errors. While Levy was playing consistent tennis, Henman pretty much handed the lead to the Isreali. Henman struggled on his serve in the seventh game of the set, eventually holding but Levy served it out with two backhand volley winners of his own for 6-2 in 27 minutes.

Henman clearly frustrated with the state of his game today started out well in the second set even denying Levy a chance to break in the fifth game. But Levy was coming up with all the shots, coming to net more frequently than I had anticipated against the serve and volleyer, and was very successful drop-shotting Henman. In the sixth game, on his serve, Levy hit a spectacular half-volley drop shot that died quickly when it landed on Henman's side of the net. Henman just barely getting to it sent the ball flying well out of the stadium. "Gentleman Tim" received the mandatory code violation for ball abuse for the ball's impressive flight onto the Scottsdale Princess's hotel grounds. Undeterred by the warning, Henman played two aggressive chip and charge points on Levy second serves and earned his first break of the match for a 4-2 lead. But Henman's first lead in a set ended quickly when the Brit double faulted twice in his next service game to give Levy the break back. At 4-4, Henman's game continued to proved troublesome. A forehand landing in the net and a forehand sailing wide gave Levy two break points at 15-40. Uncharacteristically, Henman let out an extended scream of frustration. Henman battled back to deuce but yet another double fault gave Levy the game and the chance to serve out the match. With nothing going right for Henman, a netcord popped back to his side of the net on the first point of the game. A final forehand return error, gave Levy the set at 6-4 and the match in a mere 1 hour and 8 minutes.

Levy ranked today's win (his first against a top 10 player I believe) among the best in his career. With the win, Levy reaches his second career ATP final, but granted a much smaller one than his first at last year's Tennis Master Series event.

Magnus Norman (#3) vs. Mardy Fish (Quarterfinals)
First Meeting.

American Mardy Fish was looking to take out another Swede from this year's tournament. Fish, scored the biggest win of his young career on Wednesday when he took out Thomas Enqvist. Enqvist was only competing in only his second match back from foot and shoulder surgery. Being a fan of good (or maybe bad) puns myself, the oddly named American earned some funny (or cringe-inducing) headlines at "The Arizona Republic" including: "Fish Nets Upset Over Enqvist" and "America Fish Sinks Enqvist." The 19- year old, the youngest quarterfinalist remaining, has a mere career 6-5 record on the main ATP Tour but improved to 3-1 this year with two wins here in Scottsdale.

Norman appeared questionable even before the start of today's match. The Swede had a brief discussion with the chair umpire during the warm-up and the trainer was out with Norman prior to the first serve. It was not clear what might have been wrong with Norman and he received no apparent treatment. Oddly Norman appeared to be swigging some Coca-Cola, not a common beverage seen on the court, before he went out to serve. Despite any apparent ailment, Norman held at love with the help of a handful of Fish unforced errors. Fish brought the score to 1-1 capping off his first service game with a 129mph ace. At this point, Norman's service problems begun. The Swede double faulted to give Fish a break point and battled back to deuce three times (including another Fish break point) before holding. The situation was the same in his next service game, the fifth game of the set, with another double fault and more break points against the Swede before he held. Despite his troubles, Norman took advantage of his first break point on Fish's serve when he forced the American to send a backhand wide as he ran he from corner to corner. Norman converted the break at love to take the first set 6-3 in 33 minutes.

Not unsurprisingly, the American received a huge ovation from the crowd as the players returned for the second set. The fans seemed particularly amused to yell out "Go Fish!" in tribute to the childhood card game of the same name. Fish finally broke through on Norman's first service game of the set, when Norman netted a backhand on Fish's sixth break chance of the match. As in the first set, one break proved to be enough and Fish won the set on his own serve (including a 125 mph service winner) at 6-3 in 36 minutes.

With a slight momentum shift in favor of the American, the crowd wondered if another seeded player would tumble out of the tournament. Norman was playing well enough but was still questionable having been driven to the decisive set against a relatively inexperienced 19-year old. Perhaps it was this inexperience that eventually led to the Fish's downfall in the fourth game. Fish fell backwards to send a fairly tame mid-court smash back to Norman which gave the Swede an easy forehand pass. On break point, Fish, with a totally open court, badly missed a smash wide to give Norman a 3-1 lead. Fish, with the crowd cheering loudly, broke back in the seventh game when Norman hit a backhand long. However, fate was not in Fish's favor as a netcord dribbled back on his side of the net on break point in the next game. Norman served out the set and the match with crisp backhand winner down the line at 6-3. The entire match took 1 hour and 42 minutes.

Despite the loss, the American should feel good about how he competed with one of the top players in the world. Norman won the first set on the first and only break point on Fish's serve and Norman did not reach one break point on Fish's serve in the second set. While some cracks of nervousness showed in the third set, Fish did earn one break back against the Swede. He thrived on the crowd support and applauded to the stands upon his departure from the court. On the other hand, Norman must still believe there is still considerable room for improvement in his game heading into the first two Tennis Master Series events of the year. Norman will meet Levy in the semifinals in the top half of the draw tomorrow.