Henman Lucky, Henin Gone

Wimbledon Review

Day two at the 2005 Wimbledon Championships had a little bit of everything with close matches, a big shock and the arrival of some new grass court contenders.

Britain’s main hope Tim Henman gave the capacity centre court crowd their first big scare of the fortnight starting his 12th Wimbledon campaign extremely slowly going behind two sets to love to Finland’s Jarrko Nieminen before storming home to secure the match 3-6 6-7 (5) 6-4 7-5 6-2.

“I didn't play well today. I'm not going to hide from that,” said Henman in his post match press conference. “The first two sets were a struggle. Then, as the third and fourth, fifth sets went on, I started to do a lot of things better.”

2004 finalist Andy Roddick showed that once again he is a man to be feared at this year’s titles as he raced through his first round match against Czech Jiri Vanek 6-1 7-6(4) 6-2.

“I felt like it was a pretty good performance. Three sets, I'm through to Round 2. That's what you're looking for in the first round,” said the American shortly after his match.

French Open champion Rafael Nadal quickly made the transition from clay to grass crushing experienced American Vince Spadea 6-4 6-3 6-0, while French youngster Richard Gasquet followed his victory in Nottingham last week with a solid first up effort defeating Germany’s Phillip Kohlschreiber 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-2.

The Women’s draw saw the first major upset of the tournament with Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou seeing off French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne in three tough sets 7-6(8) 2-6 7-5.

The Belgian no.7 seed has been struggling with injury and illness, but after the match credited her opponents great play rather than focusing on her own problems.

“Today in front of me I had a very good player that was playing good tennis. She loves to play on grass. She took the opportunities a little bit more than me, so she deserved to win.”

World no.2 Maria Sharapova got her title defence off to a good start defeating little known Spaniard Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-2 6-2, but her opponent from last year’s final Serena Williams had a much tougher match having to fight tooth and nail to get past up and coming American Angela Haynes 6-7(12) 6-4 6-2.

The Australian contingent managed to come through the second day unscathed with Wimbledon veterans Wayne Arthurs and Nicole Pratt both scoring wins to get through to the second round.

Arthurs saw off the 32nd seeded Italian Filippo Volandri in straight sets 6-3 6-4 6-4, while Pratt was made to go the distance against Slovakian Ludmila Cervanova 3-6 6-3 6-1.

Day Two Results

Men First Round:

2-Andy Roddick (USA) bt Jiri Vanek (Czech Republic) 6-1 7-6(7-4) 6-2
4-Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt Vincent Spadea (USA) 6-4 6-3 6-0
Michael Llodra (France) leads 9-Sebastien Grosjean (France) 6-3 5-7 6-4 6-7(5-7) 4-3
6-Tim Henman (Great Britain) bt Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) 3-6 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 7-5 6-2
12-Thomas Johansson (Sweden) bt Bohdan Ulihrach (Czech Republic) 6-3 6-2 6-2
14-Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) bt Robby Ginepri (USA) 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4 6-2
15-Guillermo Coria (Argentina) bt Tomas Behrend (Germany) 6-1 6-2 6-2
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) bt 17-David Ferrer (Spain) 6-3 6-2 7-6 (9-7)
18-David Nalbandian bt Raemon Sluiter (The Netherlands) 6-2 6-2 7-5
Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia Montenegro) bt 19-Tommy Haas (Germany) 6-2 2-1 Retired
27-Richard Gasquet (France) bt Phillip Kohlschreiber (Germany) 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-2
28-Jiri Novak (Czech Republic) bt Peter Wessels (Netherlands) 7-6(7-4) 6-3 6-4
Igor Andreev (Russia) bt 30-Robin Soderling (Sweden) 6-7 (3-7) 7-5 6-1 7-5
Wayne Arthurs (Australia) bt 32-Filippo Volandri (Italy) 6-3 6-4 6-4
33-Olivier Rochus (Belgium) bt Paul Goldstein (USA) 6-4 6-2 6-2

Women First Round:

2-Maria Sharapova (Russia) bt Nuria Llagostera Vives (Spain) 6-2 6-2
4-Serena Williams (USA) bt Angela Haynes (USA) 6-7 (12-14) 6-4 6-2
Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) bt 7-Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium) 7-6 (10-8) 2-6 7-5
8-Nadia Petrova (Russia) bt Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spain) 4-6 6-3 6-2
11-Vera Zvonareva (Russia) bt Marlene Weingartner (Germany) 2-6 6-4 6-0
12-Mary Pierce (France) bt Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) 6-3 6-4
14-Venus Williams (USA) bt Eva Birnerova (Czech Republic) 6-2 6-4
16-Nathalie Dechy (France) bt Maria Elena Camerin (Italy) 7-6 (7-1) 6-1
Alyona Bondarenko (Ukraine) bt 18-Tatiana Golovin (France) 6-3 3-6 7-5
19-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia Montenegro) bt Vera Douchevina (Russia) 6-4 6-3
20-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) bt Evgenia Linetskaya (Russia) 3-6 6-2 6-2
Kristina Brandi (Puerto Rico) bt 21-Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-3 3-6 9-7
26-Flavia Pennetta (Italy) bt Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Switzerland) 6-1 6-2
29-Marion Bartoli (France) bt Rika Fujiwara (Japan) 6-2 6-2
Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) bt 31-Anabel Medina Garrigues (Spain) 6-3 6-3
32-Virginie Razzano (France) bt Catalina Castano (Colombia) 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 6-4
Nicole Pratt (Australia) bt Ludmila Cervanova (Slovakia) 3-6 6-3 6-1

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