LONDON, June 13: Tim Henman swept into the quarterfinals of the $800,000 Stella Artois Championships on Thursday with an imperious 6-1 6-2 victory over Robby Ginepri on the Queen’s Club centre court.

The British second seed — runner-up here last year — was far more comfortable during his second outing on grass this year than he had been 24 hours earlier against Neville Godwin and did not give American Ginepri a sniff of a chance.

“I hit the ball much, much better and served much, much better today,” he said afterwards.

With just 11 days to go until the start of Wimbledon, Henman said he was feeling good ahead of the grasscourt grand slam.

“It is great to have a bit of court time under my belt... certainly I can have no complaint with the way I played today,” he said.

Henman will meet Hyung-Taik Lee in a last-eight clash on Friday after the South Korean cracked American Vince Spadea 6-4 6-3.

South Africa’s Wayne Ferreira barged past fellow former champion Mark Philippoussis into the quarters with a narrow 7-6 4-6 7-6 victory.

Neither player led by more than one game throughout the two hour and 10 minute contest but in the end Ferreira, who won here in 1992, held his nerve best.

Philippoussis — nicknamed Scud for his explosive serving — finally cracked when he double-faulted at 5-5 in the third set tiebreak to hand Ferreira match point.

The South African converted confidently with a firm double-fisted backhand down the line.

“I played well today,” Ferreira said courtside immediately after the match.

“I was pretty happy out there. I mean, he was serving so big I felt I had no chance at all but I hung in there.”

Ferreira, ranked 47 in the world, will face Raemon Sluiter in the next round after the Dutchman had an easy passage into the quarters.

Sluiter was leading 3-1 when his opponent, Slovak Karol Kucera, retired with a left knee injury.

Earlier, ninth seed Todd Martin mustered all his grasscourt expertise to beat eighth-seeded Belgian Xavier Malisse 7-5 6-3 and become the first player into the quarter-finals.

Martin now faces world number one and top seed Lleyton Hewitt.

Third round results

1-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) beat Olivier Rochus (Belgium) 6-2, 6-1; Lee Hyung-taik (South Korea) beat Vince Spadea (US) 6-4, 6-3; Wayne Arthurs (Australia) beat Michael Russel (US) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5; 2-Tim Henman (Britain) beat Robby Ginepri (US) 6-1, 6-2; 10-Wayne Ferreira (South Africa) beat Mark Philippoussis (Australia) 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-6 (7-5); 9-Todd Martin (US) beat 8-Xavier Malisse (Belgium) 7-5, 6-3; Raemon Sluiter (Netherlands) beat Karol Kucera (Slovakia) 3-1 — retired injured.

DFS Classic:

Third round: Clarisa Fernandez (Argentina) bt Jill Craybass (U.S.) 7-5 6-3; Nicole Pratt (Australia) bt Sandrine Testud (France) 6-4 6-1; Jelena Dokic (Yugoslavia) beat 16-Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) 6-3 6-2; Magdalena Maleeva (Bulgaria) bt Julie Pullin (Britain) 7-6 (7-5) 6-0; Lisa Raymond (U.S.) bt Elena Bovina (Russia) 7-5 6-4; Anne Kremer (Luxembourg) bt Daja Bedanova (Czech Republic) 6-0 5-7 6-4; Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) bt Ai Sugiyama (Japan) 6-4 6-2—Reuters