The Wimbledon spectators, who have inspired Tim Henman to some of his greatest triumphs, let him down last night - just when he was on the verge of winning another five-set epic, writes Jon Murray.

A woman in the packed Centre Court crowd screamed at a crucial moment as Henman, 0-30 down in the seventh game of the final set, shaped to smash a difficult high return from Mark Philippoussis.

That one moment proved the turning point of a magnificent match lasting 3 hrs 12 mins. Henman appeared to be momentarily put off by the cry. He hit his smash long, and never recovered.

In his press conference afterwards, Henman denied being distracted by the cry.

"I should have made that shot," he said. "I didn't execute that one quite as well as I would have liked."

Yet he was being diplomatic in the extreme. I bet he wouldn't mind executing the woman who cried out. However, he didn't want to detract from a brilliant display of power serving by the big Australian

"That crucial seventh game of the fifth set was where it was won for Mark," Henman added. "I hung in there early on and the match had been swinging in my favour. But any glimmer of chances were extinguised with big serves."