Tim Henman dug into his deepest reserves of courage last night to beat Swiss sensation Roger Federer and lift the roof on Centre Court.

And the Oxford star is now supremely confident of beating Goran Ivanisevic in tomorrow's semi-final to become the first Briton to get through to the Wimbledon men's final since Bunny Austin in 1938.

But Henman, who by beating Pete Sampras's conqueror, has reached the Wimbledon semi-finals for the third time in four years, believes the strong favourite for the title still comes from the bottom half of the draw.

He insisted the winner of the other semi, between Andre Agassi and Pat Rafter, would be favourite to lift the trophy on Sunday.

The 26-year-old, who grew up in Weston-on-the-Green, boasts a highly impressive 4-0 career record against big-serving Ivanisevic, who yesterday became the first player in the history of the tournament to reach the last four as a wildcard after his four-set victory over Russia's Marat Safin.

"I have a good record against Goran and I will just have to make sure I make him play as many balls as possible," Henman said.

"You have to take it for granted that he will hit a lot of aces, but you just have to carry on and try to get a few back. It might make him be a bit more adventurous, go for more lines and then, hopefully, I can capitalise on his mistakes.''

Henman believes he has enough ability to win this year's championship, but said the experience and ability of Rafter and Agassi made them stand out.

"This is the third time they have played each other in the semis, they have the ability and have won Grand Slams. Even if I beat Goran, I think the favourite will come from that match.''

But Tiger Tim is very confident that his serving will be good enough to see him crush the 29-year-old Croat.

"The pressure on me is there all the time, but I feel I am playing well enough at the moment to do it. As long as the crowd remain behind me, I am confident I can beat Goran.''

Henman played some of the most gutsy tennis of his career to overcome Federer 7-5, 7-6, 2-6, 7-6 in 3 hours 12 minutes of enthralling play before a fiercely partisan crowd.

After Henman won the first set by breaking with a brilliant lob, there was nothing between the two players in the second set which went to a thrilling tie-break.

Henman looked out of it as Federer edged ahead, but he saved three set points and won the tie-break 8-6.

So even though the Swiss star, by now very loose and fluent, and playing some wonderful shots, stormed back to take the third set with two breaks, Henman was relieved to grab the fourth to another tie-break, despite earlier looking like taking the match when he led 4-1 and 5-2.

The fourth set became a roller-coaster of emotions, not just for the 14,000 spectators but for millions watching on television, with both players recovering to win games when they looked to be down and out.

In the tie-break, Henman once more came back from a big deficit. He was 5-2 down, but took six of the next seven points to win 8-6, the Swiss unable to save the second match point, driving a fraction over the baseline as the Brit clinched his place in the last four.

Read more on our special Henman site