Ivanisevic breaks British hearts to reach Wimbledon final

Goran Ivanisevic broke British hearts on Sunday when he beat local hero Tim Henman in an epic Wimbledon semifinal to become the first wild card to reach a Grand Slam final.

The Croatian, ranked 125 in the world, won 7-5 6-7 0-6 7-6 6-3 on Centre Court on the third day of the match. He will play Pat Rafter of Australia, the third seed, in Monday's final.

Henman was bidding to become the first Briton to reach the men's final at Wimbledon since 1938.

Play stopped on Friday because of bad light with Henman two sets to one ahead and leading 2-1 in the fourth set.

Ivanisevic won the fourth set in a tiebreak on Saturday and was ahead 3-2 when rain stopped play after only 51 minutes.

Henman held serve on Sunday and went 0-30 ahead on Ivanisevic's serve before big serving helped the Croat recover to win the game.

Behind 4-3, Henman was suddenly 15-40 down as Ivanisevic sent three cracking returns of serve over the net. Henman saved both break points.

But the Briton served a double fault to give away another break point and another fine forehand return of serve to Henman's feet led to the vital break for the wild card.

A forehand long by Henman gave Ivanisevic his first match point after 12 minutes play but British hopes were kept alive by an Ivanisevic double fault.

A second service ace by Ivanisevic set up another match point and a backhand wide by Henman won the Croatian the match.