Sampras wraps up Draper

Wimbledon, June 21: The champion played true to the script, if at all there was one. The top seed, Pete Sampras, returned to centre court...

Wimbledon, June 21: The champion played true to the script, if at all there was one. The top seed, Pete Sampras, returned to centre court of the All-England and Croquet Club for his continuing tryst with destiny. In his first day at office, the American was in such absolute command that the 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over Australian Scott Draper would have been the most predictable result on the first day of the Championship.

Draper, for his part, had won the Queen8217;s last year and being a left-handed from Queensland, people wanted him to be a second Rod Laver8217;. It is not known whether the original Australian had taken offence to that, but there was not a remote chance that the Australian on centre court came anywhere near the legend. For a player ranked 63, that kind of an expectation was a bit too much. Playing Sampras was simply upping the agony.

8220;It was like coming back home,8221; Sampras said after the win. 8220;This fortnight is big for me and I was quite keyed up and did not look back after the goodstart.8221;

As always, the centre court was so slippery both players found it difficult to get a foothold in the beginning. Sampras, however, has been in similar situations before, and adjusted to the court much faster than Draper.8220;I knew what to expect. He is a tough player and has good shots and for me it was a question of getting into rhythm which I did pretty quickly,8221; Sampras said.

Meanwhile, the great British hope Tim Henman, unusually named one of the title favourites this year, breezed through the first round with a 6-4, 6-0, 3-6, 7-6 1 over Frenchman Arnaud Di Pasquale, a former world junior number one.

Paes flounders at first hurdle

This myth about Leander Paes and grasscourt tennis should be conveniently cast aside in a nearby dustbin. The self-professed grass-courter once again failed to win a singles match here as he went down to qualifier Andre Sa of Brazil in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 4 here on Monday. The irony of the match, however, was that this was Paes8217; first matchafter becoming the world8217;s best doubles player.

Meanwhile Paes became the second Indian player to be ranked number one in doubles individually , according to the latest ATP rankings released today. Paes, who partnered Dutch Jan Siemerink at Rosemalen in The Netherlands, was declared joint winners after the doubles final was rained out yesterday.The India number one thus pushed his partner Mahesh Bhupathi down to the number two spot. Paes is 71 points clear of his partner with 4019 points, while Bhupathi has 3948. It is unlikely anybody else would take over the top slot for a while 8212; third-ranked Paul Haarhuis is more than 600 points behind Bhupathi.

How the seeds fared

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Men singles 1st round: 1-Pete Sampras US bt Scott Draper Aus 6-3 6-4 6-4; 6-Tim Henman GBr bt Arnaud Di Pasquale Fra 6-4 6-0 3-6 7-6 7-1; 7-Mark Philippoussis Aus bt Xavier Malisse Belg 6-7 4-7 6-4 6-3 6-4; 9-Greg Rusedski GBr bt Jason Stoltenberg Aus 6-1 6-4 6-2; 12-Carlos Moya Spain bt Jan Kroslak Svk6-4 7-5 6-2; 13-Karol Kucera Svk bt Alejandro Hernandez Mex 6-2 6-1 6-2.

Women singles 1st round: 2-Steffi Graf Ger bt Ludmila Cervanova Svk 6-1 6-4; 6-Venus Williams US bt Miriam Oremans Ned 6-1 7-5; 8-Nathalie Tauziat Fra bt Lucie Ahl GBr 6-3 6-2; 12-Amanda Coetzer SA bt Nicole Pratt Aus 6-2 7-5; 13-Sandrine Testud Fra bt Jule Pullin GBr 6-1 6-3; 17-Anna Kournikova Rus bt Barbara Schwartz Aut 7-6 7-2 4-6 6-2.

Other important first round results

Men singles: Jim Courier US bt Barry Cowan GBr 6-3 6-4 6-4; Daniel Vacek Czech bt Bodan Ulihrach Czech 6-1 6-2 6-4; Francisco Clavet bt Michael Kohlmann 6-2 1-6 3-6 7-5 6-4; Sebastien Lareau Can bt Wayne Black Zimb 6-1 3-6 6-3 6-3; Sjeng Schalken Ned bt Davide Sanguinetti Italy 5-7 6-4 6-7 5-7 7-5 6-3; Mark Woodforde Aus bt Dominic Hrbaty Svk 6-4 6-2 6-2; Sebastien Grosjean Fran bt Byron Black Zimb 5-7 6-0 7-5 7-5; Andrew Ilie Aus bt Wayne Ferreira SA 7-6 15-13 7-5 6-7 10-12 6-1; ThomasJohansson Swed bt Richey Reneberg US 5-7 7-6 7-5 6-3 4-6 6-1; Andrei Medvedev Ukr bt Bernd Karbacher Ger 7-6 7-1 7-6 7-3 6-4; Cedric Pioline Fra bt Martin Damm Czech 7-6 9-7 6-4 6-2; Arvind Parmar GBr bt Albert Costa Spain 0-6 7-6 7-5 6-3 6-3.

Women singles: Ines Gorrochategui Arg bt Samantha Smith GBr 6-2 1-6 6-2; Louise Latimer GBR bt Anne-Gaelle Sidot Fra 6-4 6-2; Mirjana Lucic Croat bt Erika De Lone US 3-6 7-6 7-4 7-5; Ruxandra Dragomir Rom bt Paola Suarez Arg 6-4 6-1; Karen Cross GBr bt Lilia Osterloh US 6-1 6-4; Barbara Rittner Germ bt Denisa Chladkova Czech 6-4 6-2; Maria Alejandra Vento Ven bt Emmanuelle Gagliardi Sui 7-5 6-3; Marlene Weingartner Ger bt Jo Ward GBr 4-6 7-5 6-3; Elena Likhovtseva Rus bt Alicia Molik Aus 6-2 6-0; Seda Noorlander Ned bt Jana Nejedly Can 6-3 6-3; Janet Lee Taipei bt Kerry-Anne Guse Aus 3-6 6-4 6-1; Maureen Drake Can bt Evgenia Koulikovskaya Rus 6-3 6-0; Amanda Hopmans Ned bt Sandra KleinovaCzech 6-4 6-2; Mariana Diaz-Oliva Arg bt Anna Smashnova 7-6 7-3 7-5; Ai Sugiyama Jap bt Magdalena Grzybowska Pol 6-1 6-2; Tamarine Tanasugarn Thai bt Kevtoslova Hrdlickova Czech 6-1 6-4; Mariaan De Swardt SA bt Jolene Watanabe US 6-1 6-4.