WIMBLEDON 2000

 

REVIEWS BY MARK NEWMAN

 

 

THE SEEDS KEEP ON TUMBLING

 

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Ten Seeds Have Crashed Already

After all the first round matches have been completed, ten of the 32 seeds spread across the men’s and women’s games have fallen. Yesterday, Nicolas Lapentti, Greg Rusedski, Sandrine Testud and Barbara Schett caught early flights home. Today six seeds were upset.

 

Jennifer Capriati def. (16) Dominique Van Roost 6-2 6-4

It’s not secret that Jennifer Capriati is my favourite player, but even I did not expect Capriati to record a win this one-sided over 16th-seed Van Roost.  The Belgian defeated World #2 Lindsay Davenport in the French Open and on her way to the final last weekend at Eastbourne. Capriati though was not impressed by Van Roost’s recent success. The American has played successfully on grass herself the last two weeks, reaching the quarterfinals at Birmingham and the semi-finals at ‘s-Hertogenbosch, and she continued her good form with a straight sets victory over Van Roost. She looked fit, confident and motivated, and by beating a seed has opened up the draw nicely for herself. Unsurprisingly, I am VERY happy!

 

Kim Clijsters def. (7) Nathalie Tauziat 6-3 3-6 6-2

I predicted it myself, and it came true. But how sad for Tauziat, who confirmed at the post-match press conference that this was indeed her last Wimbledon appearance and she would be retiring at the end of the year. She has had an illustrious career, especially on grass, and is one of the few all-court players left on the tour. Her career highlight came at Wimbledon in 1998 when she was runner-up to Jana Novotna. She can look back on this year with a smile though – at the beginning of the year she reached a career high ranking of World #3. Her match today against Clijsters though will not be smiled about. Clijsters started fantastically, building a 5-1 lead, and though Tauziat fought back the first set was over. Tauziat won the second, but the young Belgian, who did so well here last year, held her nerve for a major upset.

 

Gala Leon Garcia def. (13) Amelie Mauresmo 4-6 6-3 7-5

The French star is not a natural grasscourt player, and it showed throughout her match with Spaniard Garcia, as she succumbed in three sets in another opening round upset.

 

Kristie Boogert def. (14) Julie Halard-Decugis 7-6 (7-4) 0-6 6-1

Much is said for getting good grasscourt preparation at pre-Wimbledon tournaments such as Eastbourne, but today’s results showed that it didn’t necessarily follow that a good run at Wimbledon would follow. At Eastbourne on Saturday Julie Halard-Decugis defeated Dominique Van Roost, but today at Wimbledon both were bundled out in the first round. Halard-Decugis’s match was delayed by rain in the middle of the afternoon yesterday, and then cancelled after Court 14 was found to be too wet after the rain had stopped. After her run at Eastbourne, Halard-Decugis might have been glad for the extra rest, and she started brightly today, winning five games in a row to level the match. Boogert though dug deep to keep well ahead in the third set and close out the match.

 

Jan-Michael Gambill def. (7) Lleyton Hewitt 6-3 6-2 7-5

Gambill was recently voted one of the world’s 50 sexiest people in People Magazine and is thus seen as the ATP Tour’s Kournikova. Like the young Russian, Gambill caused a major first round upset, routing recent Queen’s champion Lleyton Hewitt. The Australian, who defeated Pete Sampras to win that title, could do nothing but shrug his shoulders after the match and look forward to Australia’s Davis Cup match in a fortnight. He was simply blasted off the court by some super-hard hitting from the young American. He will be back, and is touted as a future champion, but if he plays like this next year another first round exit might be on the cards.

 

Tommy Haas def. (13) Nicolas Keifer 5-7 6-4 6-2 6-3

There was always the potential for an upset in the battle of the German youngsters, and after losing the first set Tommy Haas lifted his game to another level to see off his higher ranked compatriot in four sets.

 

Other News

Defending women’s champion Lindsay Davenport advanced when her doubles partner and best friend Corina Morariu withdrew injured in the second set. Davenport had been on fine form and heading for a straight sets win though… Taylor Dent made a name for himself as a future hope for American men’s tennis, hitting big and hard to take the first set 6-2 against Andre Agassi. Agassi levelled in the next set, and Dent was unable to win another game, eventually retiring injured in the fourth set… Mark Woodforde’s hopes for another Wimbledon doubles title in his last Wimbledon before retiring at the end of the year may have hit trouble. Woodforde was forced to retire injured in his first round singles match against #3 seed Magnus Norman. Norman was two sets to love up… Tim Henman looked in fine form, reaching the second round in four sets where he will not have to face three-time runner-up Goran Ivanisevic. Instead he will meet Arnaud Clement of France who tamed the serve of Ivanisevic in the first round… Monica Seles was given a scare, before winning 7-5 in the third set against Karina Habsudova. Seles decided she was glad for the match practice, and hoped it would help her for the rest of the tournament… Gustavo Kuerten, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Mark Philippoussis, Patrick Rafter and Marat Safin strode into the men’s second round… Mary Pierce, Conchita Martinez, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Amanda Coetzer won their opening round matches, as did last year’s teenage heroines Jelena Dokic and Alexandra Stevenson.