The Best and the Worst of the British Press

L O N D O N , July 5 -- An elated Tim Henman graced the front pages of nearly every newspaper in Britain this morning, as the U.K. celebrates the tennis ace's victory in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

"Tiger Tim" advanced to the semi-finals on his home turf for the third time in his career and has boosted British hopes that he might become the nation's first Wimbledon singles champion in 65 years.

Henman bested Swiss 19-year-old Roger Federer 7-5, 7-6. 2-6, 7-6 before an adoring home crowd Wednesday. Henman will face Croatia's Goran Ivanisevic in the semi-finals, while American Andre Agassi will play Australia's Patrick Rafter in the other semi-final match-up.

Mechanical Sex Sorter

The Times joins several of its broadsheet brethren this morning in reporting a story from across the pond. The paper examines an announcement made by American scientists Wednesday that nearly 200 couples have had babies whose sex was determined prior to birth for purely social reasons.

Doctors at a U.S. clinic have employed a "sex-sorting" machine, using it on the father's sperm to raise the odds of determining the sex of a baby. The machine increases the odds of being able to select the sex of a child to an astonishing 92 percent for girls and 72 percent for boys. Fertility experts, however, have raised some concerns about the morality and safety of the procedure.

No Controversy, But Still Worth It

The Independent runs a large picture of a tartan-clad Madonna, being held aloft by back-up singers in gas masks, on its front page today, to mark the first of six London shows. A lengthy story inside the paper reports scalped tickets were selling for as much as $1,000. But, Madonna fans said it was worth it.

The paper noted that this concert lacked much of the controversy that has surrounded previous Madonna tours. As the Independent muses, there were "no crucifixes, no pointy bras, and little in the way of self-gratification, at least in the sexual sense."

A Sacrifice for the Score