Oxfordshire star Tim Henman admitted he was disappointed by his performance after his impressive run at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament was halted at the semi-final stage in Rotterdam by a 6-3, 6-3 defeat to Lleyton Hewitt.

Henman has now lost in all seven meetings with Hewitt.

The British No 1 broke his Australian opponent in the second set, but otherwise Hewitt was in control throughout.

Henman said: "I missed shots that I would normally make. I think I simply tried too hard.

"I was overly aggressive, and made too many mistakes as a result. In the end, I forgot to win points."

However, the Englishman was quick to pay tribute to his opponent's qualities, adding: "Lleyton produced a few stunning passing shots.

"I really wouldn't know anyone on the tour who hits them better than he does. And I made for an ideal target at the net, of course."

Henman had reached the semi-final with a battling straight-sets win over world No 1 Roger Federer and, despite his defeat, he was not unhappy about his progress.

"I serve better than I did nine months ago, when I regularly lost several games during a match," he said.

Hewitt went on to beat Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-7, 7-5, 6-4 in yesterday's final.