`Dark Horse’ Hewitt fails to play cards right, falls to Gambill

Gambill completely dominated the match and he didn’t even have to try much. Hewitt, who had a first serve percentage of 38%, seemed bothered by the surface, the cold and by his lack of form on the day. He was up 5-2 in the third set and suddenly collapsed from thereon. He was broken in the ninth and 11th games, while Gambill just held on.

In the best news for Britons here, their No. 1 Tim Henman put an end to Asia No.1 Paradorn Srichaphan’s hopes of progressing past the first round, winning 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3. The Thai 21-year-old put a lot into the first set, playing some good volleys and clearly surprising the British favourite, with some great passes. Henman said after the match that he had to change his tactics, but once he had “figured out" how to tackle Srichaphan, he “didn’t have any complaints” about the way he played.

Briton Arvind Parmar got past Brazilian Andre Sa in a five set duel 6-7 (5), 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Andre Agassi put out compatriot and former Aussie Davis Cupper Phil Dent’s son Taylor Dent. Agassi was leading 2-6, 6-3, 6-0, 4-0 when Dent retired with an injured ankle. He had suffered the injury in the first set itself, but decided to play on till the trainer finally advised him not to.

The good thing about the Bhupathi match, which was always viewed as a platform for him to check out how his shoulder fared when it was really tested in singles play, was that the shoulder came out with flying colours. The Indian, talking after the match said that his shoulder gave him “no problems” and “it needed some of these long matches to get on”.

The important thing for India is that Mahesh seems ready to take on the onerous responsibility of playing singles in the Davis Cup tie against Sweden next month. “We don’t exactly have a team at full-strength now,” said Mahesh, “And I would be looking at the doubles and would love playing the singles.”

Coming back to the match itself, Mahesh began really well, keeping the 126-ranked Huet on his toes with some superb volleying on his second serve. This, despite him not getting more than four first serves in, in his first three service games and dishing out four double faults in addition. Down 2-5 in the tie-breaker of the first set, he waltzed through the next seven points to win the set, but that was it for him.

A determined Huet came back with a vengeance to take the second with ease. Mahesh relies a lot on his powerful service and once Huet had figured out how to neutralise that, it wasn’t very difficult for him. Though the third set saw a mini-resurgence, it seemed to take a lot out of the Indian, who was just outclassed in the end.

Huet was a player who was already match tough, having come through three qualifying matches. That made all the difference.

Meanwhile in an early match this afternoon, Serena Williams gave notice that she is back with a bang, becoming the first person to coast into the third round with a 6-1, 6-0 pasting of Dutch 23-year-old Yvette Basting. Basting, who made her Wimbledon debut this time, was simply blasted off the court by the 18-year-old US Open champ, whose only let up, briefly, was to double-fault on match point.

How the seeds fared
Men’s singles (1st round): 2-Andre Agassi (US) bt Taylor Dent (US) 2-6 6-3 6-0 4-0 (retired); 3-Magnus Norman (Swe) bt Mark Woodforde (Aus) 6-4 6-2 2-0 (retired); 4-Gustavo Kuerten (Bra) bt Chris Woodruff (US) 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 7-6 (7-5); 5-Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Rus) bt Roger Federer (Swi) 7-5 7-5 7-6 (8-6); Jan-Michael Gambill bt 7-Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) 6-3 6-2 7-5; 12-Patrick Rafter (Aus) bt Jamie Delgado (GBR) 6-3 7-6 (9-7) 6-1; 15-Marat Safin (Rus) bt Galo Blanco (Spa) 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 6-4

Women’s singles (1st round): 2-Lindsay Davenport (US) bt Corina Morariu (US) 6-3 1-0 (retired); 3-Mary Pierce (Fra) bt Nicole Pratt (Aus) 6-1 6-3; 4-Conchita Martinez (Spa) bt Anne Kremer (Lux) 6-3 7-6 (7-5); 6-Monica Seles (US) bt Karina Habsudova (Slo) 3-6 6-2 7-5; Kim Clijsters (Bel) bt 7-Nathalie Tauziat (Fra) 6-3 3-6 6-2; 9-Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (Spa) bt Justine Henin (Bel) 6-1 1-6 6-1; 12-Amanda Coetzer (SA) bt Mashona Washington (US) 6-4 6-2; Gala Leon Garcia (Spa) bt 13-Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) 4-6 6-3 7-5; Kristie Boogert (Ned) bt 14-Julie Halard-Decugis (Fra) 7-6 (7-4) 0-6 6-1; Jennifer Capriati (US) bt 16-Dominique Van Roost (Bel) 6-2 6-4

Men’s singles: Todd Martin (USA) bt Frederik Jonsson (Swe) 7-6 (9/7) 7-6 (7/1) 6-2; Jerome Golmard (Fra) bt Cyril Saulnier (Fra) 7-5 6-4 6-4; Christophe Rochus (Bel) bt Mikael Tillstrom (Swe) 4-6 7-6(9/7) 6-2 4-6 6-1; 8-Tim Henman (GBR) bt Paradorn Srichaphan (Tha) 5-7 6-3 6-1 6-3; Sjeng Schalken (Ned) bt George Bastl (Swi) 6-2 6-4 6-2; Sebastien Lareau (Can) bt Michael Russell (US) 7-6 (8/6) 6-2 1-6 6-2; Martin Damm (Cze) bt Dejan Petrovic (Aus) 6-1 6-4 6-1; Arvind Parmar (GBR) bt Andre Sa (Bra) 6-7 (2/7) 6-3 4-6 6-2 6-3; Hicham Arazi (Mar) bt Igor Gaudi (Ita) 6-2 6-4 6-0; Tommy Haas (Ger) bt Nicolas Kiefer (Ger) 5-7 6-4 6-2 6-3; Mark Philippoussis (Aus) bt Jurgen Melzer (Aut) 6-4 7-6 (7/3) 5-7 6-4; Arnaud Di Pasquale (Fra) bt Markus Hipfl (Aut) 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-7 (5/7) 6-1; Nicolas Escude (Fra) bt Guillermo Canas (Arg) 4-6 6-4 6-1 6-2; Marc Rosset (Swi) bt Franco Squillari (Arg) 7-5 6-3 7-6 (7/4); Stefan Koubek (Aut) bt Adrian Voinea (Rom) 3-3 (retired); Rainer Schuttler (Ger) bt Carlos Moya (Spa) 6-36-7 (5/7) 6-3 6-2; Thomas Johansson (Swen) bt Fernando Meligeni (Bra) 6-4 6-7 (7-5) 6-3 6-2; Andreas Vinciguerra (Swe) bt Laurence Tieleman (Ita) 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 6-7 (9-7) 6-2; Stephane Huet (Fra) bt Mahesh Bhupathi (Ind) 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-1; David Prinosil (Ger) bt Sargis Sargsian (Arm) 2-6 6-1 6-2 6-4; Magnus Gustafsson (Swe) bt Paul Kilderry (Aus) 6-4 6-2 6-4; Justin Bower (SA) bt Davide Sanguinetti (Ita) 6-3 7-6 (7-1) 4-6 7-6 (7-1); Oliver Rochus (Bel) bt Richard Fromberg (Aus) 4-6 6-3 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4; Todd Woodbridge (Aus) bt Jan Siemerink (Ned) 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-2; Justin Gimelstob (US) bt Barry Cowan (GBR) 6-3 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-3; Jeff Tarango (US) bt Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-4 6-4; Alexander Popp (Ger) bt Ronald Agenor (Hai) 0-6 7-5 7-6 (12-10) 6-2; Albert Portos (Spa) bt Tomas Zib (Cze Rep) 6-3 6-4 6-4; Fabrice Santoro (Fra) bt Andrea Gaudenzi (Ita) 6-3 6-2 6-2; Max Mirnyi (Bel) bt Bohdan Ulihrach (Cze Rep) 6-2 4-0 (retired); Michael Chang (US) bt Gaston Gaudio (Arg) 6-2 6-36-2

Women’s singles: Lisa Raymond (US) bt Jana Nejedly (Can) 6-1 4-6 6-2; Rita Grande (Ita) bt Melanie Schnell (Aus) 6-3 6-0; Brie Rippner (US) bt Mariaan de Swardt (SA) 6-2 6-3; Sonya Jeyaseelan (Can) bt Erika de Lone (US) 6-4 6-4; Alicia Molik (Aus) bt Sandra Kleinova (Cze Rep) 3-6 6-2 6-2; Cara Black (Zim) bt Samantha Smith (GBR) 6-2 6-2; Elena Likhovtseva (Rus) bt Miroslava Vavrinec (Swi) 3-6 6-3 6-1; Nathalie Dechy (Fra) bt Chanda Rubin (US) 6-3 6-1; Catalina Cristea (Rom) bt Barbara Rittner (Ger) 7-5 2-6 9-7; Sarah Pitkowski (Fra) bt Tatiana Panova (Rus) 6-3 7-6 (7-4); Lilia Osterloh (US) bt Silvia Farina (Ita) 6-3 5-7 6-3; Els Callens (Bel) bt Maria Alejandra Vento (Ven) 6-3 6-2; Shinobu Asagoe (Jpn) bt Tara Snyder (US) 6-2 1-6 6-1; Florencia Labat (Arg) bt Nadedja Ostrovskaya (Blr) 6-3 2-6 6-4; Jelena Dokic (Aus) bt Greta Arn (Ger) 6-1 7-6 (8/6); Yayuk Basuki (Ina) bt Marissa Irvin (US) 4-6 6-2 6-4; Kristina Brandi (US) bt Joanette Kruger (SA) 6-3 7-5; Paola Suarez (Arg) bt Emmanuelle Gagliardi(Swi) 6-4 6-3; Marlene Weingartner (Ger) bt Sylvia Plischke (Aut) 6-4 6-4; Sandra Nacuk (Yug) bt Jelena Kostanic (Cro) 6-4 6-1; Magdalena Maleeva (Bul) bt Amelie Cocheteux (Fra) 6-1 6-2; Alexandra Stevenson (US) bt Rita Kuti Kis (Hun) 7-5 7-6 (7/3); Lycie Ahl (GBR) bt Barbara Schwartz (Aut) 6-0 6-3; Patty Schnyder (Swi) bt Tathiana Garbin (Ita) 6-3 6-2; Magui Serna (Spa) bt Karen Cross (GBR) 6-3 6-4; Meaghann Shaughnessy (US) bt Maria Sanchez Lorenzo (Spa)7-5 6-2; Miriam Oremans (Ned) bt Lina Krasnoroutskaya (Rus) 6-7 (5/7) 6-4 6-3; Sebine Appelmans (Bel) bt Ruxandra Dragomir (Rom) 7-6 (7/4) 6-4; Anastasia Myskina (Rus) bt Laurence Courtois (Bel) 6-4 5-7 6-2.