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Impressive wins for French Open champs
London, June 25: The French Open singles champions Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium and Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero both opened with impressive wins.
London, June 25: The French Open singles champions Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium and Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero both opened with impressive wins.
Henin-Hardenne, who overwhelmed compatriot Kim Clijsters in Paris earlier this month to claim her first Grand Slam title, produced a smooth 7-5 6-1 win over Ukrainian Julia Vakulenko in the first round on Tuesday.
Third seed Henin-Hardenne stepped on a sun-baked court one with her left hand and fingers heavily strapped, following her fall in the Ordina Open final three days ago, but she did not appear to be hindered by the injury.
Despite being ranked 97 places below the Belgian world number three, Vakulenko kept pace with Henin-Hardenne until the 11th game of a high-quality contest.
The 19-year-old's resolve finally crumbled when, looking to stay in the set, she hit three backhand errors in a row to hand Henin-Hardenne two set points.
The Belgian needed only one and let out a huge sigh of relief when Vakulenko's forehand sailed long after 48 minutes to end the first-set tussle.
Henin-Hardenne stepped up a gear in the second and steamrollered the Ukrainian with her devastating all-court game to wrap up the win a minute past the hour mark when Vakulenko miscued a forehand long.
Ferrero made his transition to grass a smooth one as he skittled Jean-Rene Lisnard 6-2 6-1 6-3 to reach the second round. But the Spanish third seed's vanquished Roland Garros runner-up Martin Verkerk fell back to earth with a bump.
The Dutchman, seeded 21 here on the basis of his astonishing performance in Paris earlier this month, was beaten by Swede Robin Soderling 6-3 6-4 6-7 6-1.
British 10th seed Tim Henman stumbled through to the Wimbledon second round with an unimpressive 6-2 7-6 3-6 6-1 victory over Czech lucky loser Tomas Zib.
Henman, bidding to become the home nation's first men's singles winner since Fred Perry in 1936, looked rusty and tentative against an opponent who had never won a match at a grand slam tournament before.
After a strong first set Henman lost the initiative and was forced to scrap with Zib for victory in front of a packed court one and several hundred more fans glued to the giant screen on 'Henman Hill' outside the arena.
The 28-year-old Englishman, a losing semi-finalist at Wimbledon in four of the last five years, will face French qualifier Michael Llodra in the second round.
Henman needed a solid start to his campaign and produced a superb first game, smacking two perfect forehands winners and a searing ace.
The Briton was 3-0 up in no time and when Zib asked for a medical time-out for treatment to an apparent back strain, it merely delayed the inevitable as Henman wrapped up the set 6-2 with another break.
But the stretching exercises seemed to worked wonders on the Czech, who is ranked 154 and was playing only his second match on the full tour this year having qualified for the main draw after Russian Marat Safin withdrew.
Zib broke Henman immediately and held his own in the second set despite being unable to move around the court freely.
Henman's form has been patchy this year following his shoulder surgery last November and the Englishman's lack of confidence started to show, despite the vocal backing of his home crowd.
Zib forced a marathon tiebreak and squandered three set points before Henman finally raised his game to take it 13-11.
Two sets down, the gritty Czech refused to crumble and, looking increasingly mobile, he dominated the third set, outplaying Henman whose errors began to multiply under warm sunshine.
The Briton dug in, though, forged an early break in the fourth set and eventually ran away with the match, serving three consecutive aces as he served out to love.
Bureau Report
The Belgian needed only one and let out a huge sigh of relief when Vakulenko's forehand sailed long after 48 minutes to end the first-set tussle.
Henin-Hardenne stepped up a gear in the second and steamrollered the Ukrainian with her devastating all-court game to wrap up the win a minute past the hour mark when Vakulenko miscued a forehand long.
Ferrero made his transition to grass a smooth one as he skittled Jean-Rene Lisnard 6-2 6-1 6-3 to reach the second round. But the Spanish third seed's vanquished Roland Garros runner-up Martin Verkerk fell back to earth with a bump.
The Dutchman, seeded 21 here on the basis of his astonishing performance in Paris earlier this month, was beaten by Swede Robin Soderling 6-3 6-4 6-7 6-1.
British 10th seed Tim Henman stumbled through to the Wimbledon second round with an unimpressive 6-2 7-6 3-6 6-1 victory over Czech lucky loser Tomas Zib.
Henman, bidding to become the home nation's first men's singles winner since Fred Perry in 1936, looked rusty and tentative against an opponent who had never won a match at a grand slam tournament before.
After a strong first set Henman lost the initiative and was forced to scrap with Zib for victory in front of a packed court one and several hundred more fans glued to the giant screen on 'Henman Hill' outside the arena.
The 28-year-old Englishman, a losing semi-finalist at Wimbledon in four of the last five years, will face French qualifier Michael Llodra in the second round.
Henman needed a solid start to his campaign and produced a superb first game, smacking two perfect forehands winners and a searing ace.
The Briton was 3-0 up in no time and when Zib asked for a medical time-out for treatment to an apparent back strain, it merely delayed the inevitable as Henman wrapped up the set 6-2 with another break.
But the stretching exercises seemed to worked wonders on the Czech, who is ranked 154 and was playing only his second match on the full tour this year having qualified for the main draw after Russian Marat Safin withdrew.
Zib broke Henman immediately and held his own in the second set despite being unable to move around the court freely.
Henman's form has been patchy this year following his shoulder surgery last November and the Englishman's lack of confidence started to show, despite the vocal backing of his home crowd.
Zib forced a marathon tiebreak and squandered three set points before Henman finally raised his game to take it 13-11.
Two sets down, the gritty Czech refused to crumble and, looking increasingly mobile, he dominated the third set, outplaying Henman whose errors began to multiply under warm sunshine.
The Briton dug in, though, forged an early break in the fourth set and eventually ran away with the match, serving three consecutive aces as he served out to love.
Bureau Report