Rain dampens men’s hopes, leaves women wondering

They said they would issue a new provisional schedule, listing women’s matches only, in case the rain lifted. Play had been scheduled to begin at 11 am local time (2.30 pm IST) but two deadlines came and went before organisers said they would decide at 1800 whether to rule out any further play for the day.

Thousands of fans flocked to the complex despite the rain. Many of them sat glumly huddled under umbrellas while others milled about aimlessly. The official forecast was for the rain to continue until late afternoon with a “very slim” chance of it lifting. Tuesday’s forecast, however, is for improved conditions.

A total of 64 matches were on the schedule, 32 first-round men’s singles and 32 first-round women’s singles. The same number of matches were completed on Monday, the opening day of the tournament.

Tuesday’s scheduled programme included defending men’s singles champion Andre Agassi of the United States facing French wild card Anthony Dupuis and third-seeded Swede Magnus Norman playing French qualifier Thierry Guardiola.

On the women’s side, second-seeded Lindsay Davenport was to open against Belgian player Dominique Van Roost and fourth-seeded Venus Williams was scheduled to play Jana Kandarr of Germany.

On Monday, Australian Mark Philippoussis wrecked Sampras’ Roland Garros dream as he blasted his way to a 4-6 7-5 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 8-6 first-round win over the former World No 1.

Philippoussis served superbly and played with rare patience from the baseline to destroy the American’s bid for a record 13th Grand Slam title in the one major tournament he has never won.

Fourth-seeded former champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia also won his opening match. Kafelnikov scored his first victory in three meetings with Croatian power-server Ivan Ljubicic, winning 6-4 6-4 3-6 3-6 6-4

Spaniard Alex Corretja, the 10th seed and a former finalist here, won through with a 6-3 6-4 6-4 win over compatriot Alberto Martin. Briton Greg Rusedksi lost to 6-3 7-6 (12-10) 7-6 (7-4) to Slava Dosedel of the Czech Republic.

While it was only the second time in 11 visits to Paris that Sampras had been bundled out in the opening round, his early departure was not a shock — his poor results on clay in the build-up to Paris offered hints of an upset.

Yet it was a dejected Sampras who walked away from the re-built Court Central knowing he had squandered another opportunity at claiming the only Grand Slam title to elude him.

“I turn 29 this year, the years are going,” said Sampras. “I see myself playing this game for a lot of years but certainly every year the French goes by and I don’t win here, it’s one opportunity missed.

“I’ll be back next year and every year that I’m playing this game. You want to at least get yourself into contention and the last couple of years I haven’t even made the second week.”

The dominant tennis player of the last decade — with 12 Grand Slam and 62 tournament titles to his credit — Sampras has never found his comfort zone on the Parisian clay.

Despite a season interrupted by a string of injuries, Sampras arrived in Paris talking confidently of collecting a record 13th major crown.

His best performance at Roland Garros had come in 1996 when he reached the semifinals, having played only two clay court matches in the build-up — losing both.

But two days of rain and cool temperatures combined with blustery winds on Monday to make an already difficult task even tougher.

“I certainly haven’t had the breaks in this event over the years,” said Sampras, who had performed only marginally better in the previous two years, faltering in the second round. “I’m disappointed, down on myself.

“I felt like my game was there today. But it will be frustrating flying home tomorrow. It’s unfortunate that I’m out.

“There’s never been a question in my mind that I can’t play well here. One year hopefully I’ll get those breaks.”

In recent years the fates have not been kind to Sampras and appeared against the American even before the first serve was struck, when he was drawn against hard-hitting Philippousis in the opening round.

The Australian, with his booming serve on target, kept the pressure on Sampras throughout the match, pounding 23 aces past the American.

“You know it’s a tough draw to play Mark in the first round but that’s the way the draw goes,” said Sampras, who will now turn his attention to Wimbledon. “It was a very close match and could have gone either way.