WIMBLEDON 2000

REVIEWS BY MARK NEWMAN

RUSEDSKI CRASHES AS SPADEA BREAKS

RUN OF LOSSES; LAPENTTI ALSO FALLS

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Vince Spadea def. (14) Greg Rusedski 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-7 (8-10) 9-7

It certainly won’t have helped the Wimbledon seeding committee justify themselves to the Spanish boycott trio when one of the players they lifted into a seeding position from outside the Top 20 crashes in the first round to a player who has just set an ATP record for most consecutive losses. Spadea entered his match with 14th-seed Rusedski with 22 consecutive first round losses behind him. He had not won a match all year. He obviously wanted to change that. From start to finish Spadea played spectacular tennis, faltering a little every time the end came in sight, but that was perfectly understandable given his record this year. Rusedski, on the other hand, only rarely found his feet. He seemed glum and despondent and the normal, cheery smile was not seen once. He looked like a little boy lost for most of the match as shot after shot zoomed out of court. To put it simply he played a terrible match. The only glimmer of hope came when he broke to lead 7-6 in the final set, and served for the match. A double fault was followed by a dreadful shot, as Rusedski volleyed a ball three feet out of the baseline, despite the fact that the ball seemed to hang in the air for several minutes waiting for him to find the right shot. He lost that game, and every one after that. Rusedski was not a happy man after the match, saying that he was going to depart Wimbledon as soon as possible and would not watch any of the tournament on TV. A sad story then, but I can’t help feeling really happy that Vince Spadea has finally broken that awful run of losses.

Slava Dosedel def. (16) Nicolas Lapentti 6-3 6-2 0-6 6-1

Apart from a bizarre third set when Lapentti found his stride, unseeded Dosedel was always the likely winner, and became the first man to ditch a seed from the championships. British fans will be pleased, as Henman and Rusedski will both have to face Lapentti in their Davis Cup tie directly after Wimbledon, and this result will give them even more hope of an easy win.