Pierce, Kafelnikov given the boot

Johansson, who said he would have been a doctor if tennis hadn8217;t worked out, was clinical in his 6-1, 7-6 0, 6-4 rout of the Russian. The latter, who had treatment during the match and said he was suffering from an injury to his ribs, added that he didn8217;t practice his serve at all. He said he has been on medication for three days.

Also going out were women8217;s 12th seed Amanda Coetzer and Russian heartthrob Marat Safin. But more on Thursday8217;s matches later. The one outstanding feature of Wednesday8217;s late match on Centre Court was Pete Sampras8217; display. The defending champ rose above the pain barrier and put on a superb display of what guts and glory is all about.

In pursuit of his seventh crown here, Sampras, playing with a heavily taped ankle, which became sore during the course of the match, ended Slovak Karol Kucera8217;s obvious discomfiture at playing a 8220;wounded8221; top seed. Sampras won 7-6 9, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Kucera tried his best and the match went pretty close, but it is difficult to imagine that a completely fit Sampras would have given him that much leeway.

Kucera was outclassed, especially towards the end after giving Sampras-backers a minor scare in the first two sets with some marvellous returns. At 5-1 up in the third set, Sampras began wincing a bit, at 5-2, he took a medical break and had a trainer tape his left ankle and lower calf over and over again. With everyone holding their collective breath, he got up and continued.

Thereafter, Sampras concentrated on holding serve by simply sending down bullet after bullet. He didn8217;t even try to get to the ball if it was passing him or required running. But he managed fine. There was a superb last game. Sampras dished out two aces, double-faulted, held three match points at 40-15, double-faulted again for 40-30 and got passed by Kucera who returned with a superlative forehand down the line for deuce after a service winner for advantage. He got passed again, and then double-faulted for the third time in the game to give Kucera advantage. A casual ace prevented any sort of debacle 8212; Sampras needed to win quickly and he served out the match with no more problems.

The match lasted 2 hours, 56 minutes and when it ended just after 9 pm, Sampras was given a standing ovation by the Centre Court gathering. The early news about the injury on Thursday from the ATP Tour trainer Doug Spreen, was that Sampras had an inflamed left foot that required hospital treatment last night and an MRI would be performed sometime later.

It was later announced that Sampras had acute tendonitis and had received treatment for it today and will have more treatment later. It will be reevaluated tomorrow morning, but Sampras still 8220;expects to play8221;. Paul Annacone, Sampras8217; coach, said on Thursday that he didn8217;t think it was the ankle 8220;whatever the release said8221;, but the injury was 8220;more on the shinquot;. He added that because this was Wimbledon, Sampras would go out and 8220;play despite the pain8221;.

It would be interesting if Sampras does play because his half of the draw has completely opened up with the exits of Krajicek, Pioline and Norman and of Lleyton Hewitt on Day One. If he cannot play, this Wimbledon will definitely lose much of its sheen.

This is probably the year of struggling defending champions. American Lindsay Davenport almost didn8217;t make it against Russian Elena Likhovtseva. Likhovtseva was leading 3-0, with two breaks in the decider, when Davenport finally got her act together and took the next six games with something like her normal game. She said later that she got lucky. 8220;But I should have played better.8221;

Davenport is on the return from a back problem and had her left leg wrapped, as she had been having problems with it since last year8217;s US Open.

The other person who made it through safely was the one who really mattered to people out here. The public left feasting on strawberries and cream after Briton Tim Henman waltzed his way through his match against bandana and dark glasses-sporting Frenchman Arnaud Clement. Henman won 6-4 6-4 6-4. At least for the present, the world was at peace.