Justine slips on grass

Justine Henin-Hardenne8217;s fragile hopes of winning the only Grand Slam missing from her collection were dashed on Tuesday when she lost ...

Justine Henin-Hardenne8217;s fragile hopes of winning the only Grand Slam missing from her collection were dashed on Tuesday when she lost in the first round at Wimbledon.

Tim Henman, once again shouldering a nation8217;s dreams for a first British men8217;s champion in 69 years, survived.

But only just.

The 30-year-old8217;s toothless display left the Centre Court crowd on the edge of its seats before he finally overcame obscure Finn Jarkko Nieminen 3-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2.

8220;It was ordinary at best,8221; was Henman8217;s candid verdict. 8220;I was struggling with my form the whole match, that was the picture really8230; but you8217;ve got to keep fighting.

8220;Fight with what you8217;ve got on the day. I am proud of the way I managed to do that. You can lose this tournament on the first day but you can8217;t win it.8221;

French Open champion Henin-Hardenne learnt the harsh reality of Henman8217;s maxim the tough way.

She had no answer to Greek Eleni Daniilidou8217;s weight of shot and went down 7-6, 2-6, 7-5. Defending champion Maria Sharapova failed to match the sparkle of her 18 carat gold tennis shoes in the opening of her defence, but still advanced 6-2, 6-2 over claycourter Nuria Llagostera Vives.

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However, the scoreline had as much to do with the Spaniard8217;s unease on the slick grass as the champion8217;s prowess. Still, though, Sharapova could not help but enjoy her match.

Men8217;s second seed Andy Roddick was far more impressive, thumping Czech Jiri Vanek 6-1, 7-6, 6-2.

The man with the world8217;s fastest serve cracked 14 aces past his opponent as he racked up victory in 82 minutes.

8220;I felt like it was a pretty good performance,8221; last year8217;s runner-up said.

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8220;You know, three sets, I8217;m through to round two. I felt like I hit the ball pretty cleanly.

8220;That8217;s what you8217;re looking for in the first round.8221;

Arriving at Wimbledon as the Stella Artois champion for the third successive year, Roddick will face Italian Daniele Bracciali next.

Bracciali won a nerve-shredding, five-set match against 6ft 10ins 2.08m Ivo Karlovic 6-7, 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, 12-10.

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Roddick was joined in the second round by fellow American Venus Williams who breezed past Eva Birnerova 6-2, 6-4. 8220;It was sunny. That was nice,8221; she sighed.

Younger sister Serena, seeded fourth this year, meets fellow American Angela Haynes later on Tuesday.

British wildcard Andrew Murray crowned his Grand Slam debut with a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory over George Bastl.

Bastl is best known for beating seven-times champion Pete Sampras in the American8217;s last trip to Wimbledon in 2002.

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But on the same court on which he recorded that milestone win, the Swiss journeyman was no match for 18-year-old Murray.

Murray, who faces Radek Stepanek next, is refusing to get carried away, though.

Reuters

The grass gaze

	nbsp;	Match of the day Jarkko Nieminen showed that his first round win over Andre Agassi at the French Open this year was no flash in the pan as the Finn nearly knocked out local favourite Tim Henman out of Wimbledon on the second day. Henman used all his experience to finally prevail in five sets Coming up Fifth-seed Marat Safin takes on Mark Philippoussis in what will be an interesting contest between two temperamental big-servers in the men8217;s game Hero of the day Voted by John McEnroe as the player to watch out for at the big W, Andrew Murray didn8217;t disappoint both his home fans and the former great as he coasted to a straight sets win over Swiss George Bastl, the man who beat Pete Sam pras in 2002. Upset of the day French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne was knocked out in the opening round by Eleni Daniilidou. The seventh seed Belgian committed 48 unforced errors to the Greek8217;s negligible 15.A low first serve percentage 48 compared to her conqueror8217;s 71 only added to her woes. Trivia: Only seven players have won both the junior as well as the senior titles at the championships 8212; Bjorn Borg, Pat Cash, Stefan Edberg, Ann Jones, Karen Susman, Martina Hingis and Roger Federer. Defending champion Maria Sharapova, Rod Laver and Martina Navaratilova are those who have been a losing finalist in the junior event but champions in the main event. Quote of the day: It8217;s summer, so here we are- suffering with Henman. It wouldn8217;t be the same without it 8212; A Henman fan, Paul Bailey 8212; Anupama Bagri	nbsp;