TIM HENMAN has even admitted that he thinks the more devoted of his fans are fairly sad. When the crazier amongst them stretch out on the concrete for a night hoping to see their hero in action, however, they seem to be assured of at least one thing . . . this man gives value for money.

The British number one has already shown his battling qualities in these championships, and in his latest outing, a clash with defending champion Richard Krajieck, it quickly became apparent that he will need those qualities once again if he is to come through on top.

The Dutchman has looked shaky on occasion over the past week, but seemed close to his best form on Saturday when he proved far too strong for David Rikl. Nevertheless, the Englishman is proving a determined opponent for the title holder.

When play was abandoned last night due to poor light, after three sets of their fourth-round encounter, the local favourite led 2-1 after taking two of the three tie-breaks required to separate two players who do not easily surrender their service games.

Top seed Pete Sampras's fourth round match was also halted by the deteriorating light, but the world number one looks to be on the way to the last eight after forging a 6-2, 4-2 advantage over Petr Korda in a somewhat less evenly-balanced encounter.

Twelfth seed Patrick Rafter would doubtless have settled for the arrival of darkness before his fate was decided. Unfortunately for him, however, Todd Woodbridge, a fellow Australian who is better known for his doubles exploits, had plenty of daylight left when the pair embarked on a match which the underdog won 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-3 in just over three and a quarter hours.

Out on court number two, meanwhile, a bigger seed, 1996 French Open champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov, was looking to book his place in the quarter- finals by beating 20-year-old German Nicolas Kiefer, a task that on paper looked straightforward enough but one which, on grass, turned out to be beyond the Russian.

The third seed appeared to prove himself on this surface a few weeks ago when, having beaten Kiefer in the second round at Halle, he went on to defeat Michael Stich, Boris Becker and Korda on the way to the title.

Here, however, he has continued to look unconvincing. All too often, his good intentions were lost in the execution, with his serve not quite strong enough, his positioning not quite good enough, and the reading of his opponent's intentions downright poor for a player of his experience.

Twelve months ago, Kafelnikov probably counted himself unfortunate to come up against Tim Henman in the first round. The Russian should have won the match, having led by two sets, but lost his head when faced with the rather hysterical local support.

This time round he will consider his defeat to be even more painful. He was simply out-played for the bulk of the contest by a man who, while clearly possessing the talent to go a long way, is still a novice in the senior game.

With considerable help from Boris Becker, who has been briefing him on all of his opponents at these championships, Kiefer is learning very quickly indeed. Having lost their previous encounter in straight sets, this time he showed that he had the measure of Kafelnikov, hanging back to allow his more experienced opponent the run of the net and then picking him off with a quite superb run of passing shots.

A beaten finalist in the junior singles here two years ago, the German was obviously happy to be back playing on this fast surface. The 20-year- old, who has spent most of the past 18 months establishing himself on the Challenger circuit, has taken to the big time with ease, dropping just one set in the first three rounds of these championships and racing into a two- set lead yesterday.

When he dropped the third to two, there did seem to be a question mark over whether he could regain the initiative, but the doubts was quickly removed when Kafelnikov lost his serve after a prolonged battle in the second game of the next set.

At that point, the Russian was obviously in considerable trouble as he continued to gift the younger man points through errors at crucial times. Kiefer steadily built on those gifts to take four of the next five games and advance to the quarter-finals.

Becker secured his place in the next round by beating Marcelo Rios in straight sets, but Kiefer's victory means that five out of the six quarter- final berths decided so far have gone to unseeded players.

Frenchman Cedric Pioline and Greg Rusedski, at the bottom of the draw, took two of the others, while 1991 champion Michael Stich, who came through strongly from one-set all to beat Mark Woodforde in four, awaits the inner of the tussle between Henman and Krajicek.

The Junior Wimbledon match between Dubliner David Mullins and Jean Rene Lisnard of France failed to get on court last night due to the failing light. The match has been rescheduled for this afternoon.