A RISE UP THE RANKINGS IS FIRMLY IN HENMAN'S COURT

A VICTORY over world No3 Marcelo Rios in the semi-final of the Lipton Championships here in Key Biscayne later today would catapult Tim Henman higher than he has ever been before in the tennis rankings, It would put British No2 into the biggest final of his career and leave him knocking on the door of the top 10.

Henman's current ranking of 20 is certain to improve to at least 15 - no matter what and a victory would take him past his career best of 14 to 11 or 12.

But Rios has climbed to No3 after his triumph in the season's first Super Nine event at Indian Wells and there is no indication that the mercurial lefthander from Chile is going anywhere but further up the ladder. Rios can end Pete Sampras' run of 102 weeks at No1 if he wins the title here and no one would question his right to be there if he does so. Henman, who has never played the Chilean, is intent on sticking to the game plan that has seen his form turned inside out this week. "Be positive and keep it simple," he said, "That's what I've got to do. Before I really didn't know what I was trying to achieve out there but the way I was hitting the ball on the practice court told me it would all come right in the end." If Henman can reproduce the controlled aggression that destroyed Gustavo Kuerten in the quarterfinals even Rios will have his hands full. Andre Agassi, looking close to his best again, will meet Alex Corretja in the other semi-final following the Spaniard's straight sets win over the American qualifier, Steve Campbell, while the women's final will be an all-teenage affair. Sixteen-year-old Anna Kournikova made sure of that by out-hitting Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 to continue her amazing run of giant-killing victories. Monica Seles, Conchita Martinez and Lindsay Davenport have all fallen to the waif-like blonde who is keeping the photographers happy. She will meet Venus Williams, who beat Martina Hingis, in the final tomorrow.

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