WHEN Tim Henman walked off Court Suzanne Lenglen yesterday, so many of the tennis demons which have haunted him for the best part of a decade were buried in the red clay of Roland Garros.

It was not just the fact he had come back from two sets down for the second time in a week to defeat inspirational Frenchman Michael Llodra in a match which for passion and raucous thrills would be hard to beat.

Henman's 6-7 4-6 6-4 6-3 9-7 victory, fashioned over four hours and 11 minutes and which took British tennis fans once more through the rawest of emotions, was more than that.

It was validation that Henman can scrap and battle and ultimately triumph in style - he took 12 of the last 13 points - playing away from the comfort zone of Wimbledon.

Henman's critics have made much of the fact that he could only play on grass, only had the game to perform deep into his home tournament where he has contested seven quarter-finals and four semi-finals.

The fact he had not reached a quarter-final in any other Grand Slam, in many people's books, prevented him entering tennis' top echelon.

Well, tomorrow he will contest a quarter-final on the clay he used to hate against Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela, no mean performer on the surface, having won the sort of match which only six months ago he would almost certainly have lost.

Choker? Bottler? Both have been hurled at Henman at times in his career, but chokers do not win two five-set thrillers in a week.

Henman was much happier with the mental fortitude he showed than his physical display in what was a rare battle on clay between two serve-and-volleyers.

''I didn't really dictate with my style enough,'' he admitted.

''Playing someone like Llodra, he's trying to do the same thing and for two sets he did it much better than me.

''He was dictating the play, serving more aggressively and getting forward. I had to find a way to turn it around. I've got to try to turn around those situations a bit quicker.

''But I take a lot of positives out of it, determination and the sort of mental strength that I showed to get through somehow.

''My big focal point is my performance and my commitment to my style. And I think for one hour and 49 minutes I was playing the wrong way. That's not a great sign, but to come through and find a way to win is kind of character-building.''

The comeback was all the more impressive because for the best part of three sets Llodra, ranked 94 in the world, was inspired.

But Henman clawed his way back in dramatic fashion to take a deserved place in the last eight.