Rusty, rattled and still recovering from a viral ailment, top-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne lost in the second round of the French Open on Wednesday.
The Belgian's bid for a second straight Roland Garros title ended when she was upset by Tathiana Garbin 7-5, 6-4. Henin-Hardenne's departure matched the earliest by a defending women's champion.
Also eliminated was No. 2-seeded Andy Roddick, who lost to Frenchman Olivier Mutis 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2. Roddick's record at Roland Garros in the past three years fell to 1-3.
PHOTO: AFP
Henin-Hardenne's match was just her second following a six-week layoff. She was sidelined April 10 by an illness that left her tired and dizzy, and decided just last week she was healthy enough to try to defend the title she won last year.
She said she didn't regret the decision, despite her sluggish, tentative performance.
"I was really nervous," Henin-Hardenne said. "I wasn't moving well; I was late all the time. I couldn't play my game. It's frustrating, but it's the choice I made."
Roddick's erratic effort showed he's still learning how to play on clay. The reigning US Open champion blew an easy volley to lose serve in the opening game of the final set, then began to play too aggressively. He became increasingly dispirited as his mistakes mounted and fell behind 5-0.
"I was waffling," Roddick acknowledged. "I wasn't decisive enough. I wasn't sticking with things I wanted to do."
Mutis, a 26-year-old Frenchman ranked 125th, served his 10th ace to close out the victory. It was just the second five-set win of his career, and it delighted the small crowd watching the final match of the day at Court Suzanne Lenglen.
"He was a different player the latter part of the match than he was at the beginning," Roddick said. "That was my fault that I let him back into the match."
Cool, damp evening conditions cost Roddick some of his power. He hit 15 aces but lost his serve nine times in a match that lasted more than three hours.
No. 27-seeded Vince Spadea was also beaten, leaving no American in the men's draw midway through the second round. Spadea, who erased nine match points in a first-round victory, lost to Julien Jeanpierre 6-4, 6-2, 7-5.
Henin-Hardenne had won the past two Grand Slam tournaments -- last year's US Open and this year's Australian Open. But against Garbin, a 26-year-old Italian ranked 86th, Henin-Hardenne double-faulted 10 times and converted only four of 18 break-point chances.
"It was my bad day, and it was her great day," Henin-Hardenne said. "I wasn't the player I've been the last 12 months."
The upset opens one half of the draw for No. 3-seeded Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo, and it means no Roland Garros rematch between Henin-Hardenne and No. 2 Serena Williams. Their semifinal last year left Williams in tears after she complained about calls, drew jeers from the crowd and lost to Henin-Hardenne.
Garbin will next play Zheng Jie, who matched the best showing by a Chinese woman in a Grand Slam event by reaching the third round when she beat No. 31 Emilie Loit 6-4, 6-1. Li Fang made the third round at the 1992 Australian Open.
Mauresmo beat Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-0, 4-6, 6-1. No. 5 Lindsay Davenport beat Maria Sanchez Lorenzo 6-4, 6-1
Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, who won the longest match of the Open era in the opening round, played for the third day in a row and survived another marathon, beating Irakli Labadze 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Garbin kept Henin-Hardenne off balance, driving her into the corners and mixing in well-timed drop-shot winners. And the Italian was repeatedly better on the big points.
Garbin completed the upset with a backhand pass down the line, then sank to her knees grinning. She's into the third round at a major event for the first time since 2000, the year she won her only tournament title.
"I never played like this. I can't believe it," she said. "She's still the first in the world, so I'm just happy to have won today."
The only other defending women's champion to lose in the second round was Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, beaten in 1990 by Mercedes Paz.
The match was played in cloudy, cool weather, and light rain fell at the end. Henin-Hardenne fell behind 4-1 and failed to convert her first nine break-point chances, but she rallied and served for the set at 5-4. She double-faulted to lose the game, and serving at 5-6, she double-faulted again and lost at love.
Henin-Hardenne trailed 2-0 in the second set, then won four consecutive games. She double-faulted to lose her serve for 4-all, then double-faulted again in the final game to reach match point.
Andy Roddick's exit from the French Open on Wednesday made him the last of 10 Americans to leave the tournament.
"This hasn't been our place for a couple of years now," Roddick said after his 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 loss to Frenchman Olivier Mutis.
In the Open era, the only other Grand Slams tournaments where no American men made it to the third round where the 1972 and 1973 Australian Opens, which no Americans entered.
No. 6 Andre Agassi's shock first-round loss to 271st-ranked Jerome Haehnel on Monday set the tone.
Haehnel, who had never won a Tour match before, couldn't keep the momentum. The Frenchman lost in the second round Wednesday to countryman Michael Llodra 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
Other American losers were: Vince Spadea, Kevin Kim, Taylor Dent, Jeff Salzenstein, Alex Bogomolov Jr., Jan-Michael Gambill, Robby Ginepri, Todd Martin.
HOSTILE CROWD
Irakli Labadze wagged his finger at the partisan crowd on center court and then tapped it on his temple as if to say: "You're all crazy!"
The Georgian lost his composure -- and the match, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 -- to marathon man Fabrice Santoro. Opening up a 3-0 lead in the first set, Labadze lost three straight games and faced break point on serve.
He screamed in frustration, prompting a chorus of whistles and boos from the crowd.
Saving break point, Labadze shouted "Yeesss!" and bowed mockingly to the stands.
They cheered -- and cheered even harder when he put his next shot into the net. Labadze shook his head in disbelief and then hugged the net judge for comfort.
In a first-round match at Roland Garros ending Tuesday, Santoro completed his 6 hour, 33 minute match (stretched over two days) against Arnaud Clement. It was the longest in the Open era by time.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS