Sport

Henin pushed all the way Tennis US Open

TENNIS: The opening week of the US Open is turning into one of denial for the top women - denial that the Williams sisters are…

By Stephen Bierley at Flushing Meadows
Wed Aug 27 2003 - 01:00

TENNIS: The opening week of the US Open is turning into one of denial for the top women - denial that the Williams sisters are missing.

The two Belgians, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne, together with France's Amelie Mauresmo, and the Americans Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati, know well enough that their chances of winning the title have increased a thousand-fold.

Yet all are studiously chanting the mantra "one match at a time" in the fervent hope that the unexpected does not strike them down prematurely.

Henin-Hardenne, the French Open champion, had good reason to be a little tentative yesterday, having never progressed beyond the last 16 here in four attempts. Added to this, her first-round opponent, Aniko Kapros of Hungary, had beaten the Belgian in the first round at Roland Garros last year, winning 4-6, 6-1, 6-0, although Henin Hardenne was far from well that day.

READ MORE

The vast Arthur Ashe stadium, packed for Pete Sampras's farewell the previous evening, was barely a quarter full, with a somnolent atmosphere pervading. This was accentuated by the 19-year-old Hungarian's second serve, with the ball appearing to fall asleep before it went over the net.

Try as she might, Henin-Hardenne was generally unable to kill it in the first set and once Kapros engaged in a rally there was little to choose between the two, even though the Hungarian's ranking is 126 places lower than the Belgian, world number three. "I'm not used to that kind of serve, and it's very difficult to cope with or punish."

Kapros ran everything down and hit double-fisted backhands, taking the ball at the top of its bounce, with extreme ferocity. Henin-Hardenne had a genuine fight on her hands, and twice lost a two-game lead in the first set at 4-2 and 5-3.

"Come on, Kapros," boomed a stentorian voice, the owner of which had probably never heard of the Hungarian teenager before the match. But 5-5 was as good as it got for Kapros against the number two seed, Henin-Hardenne winning 7-5, 6-3.

But caution prevailed. "It is a big opportunity for all the players, not just me, and it's far too early to be talking about who will win this tournament," said Henin-Hardenne.

She will next face Croatian Silvia Talaja who earlier ousted Madagascar's Dally Randriantefy 6-3, 6-0.

Jelena Dokic put in a solid performance to beat Swiss Emmanuelle Gagliardi 6-4, 6-2 while Mary Pierce was equally impressive in her 6-3, 6-2 win over German Stephanie Gehrlein.

Lleyton Hewitt, not noted for his patience, was forced to wait in the locker-room while New York, and more particularly live television, made its emotion-packed goodbye to Pete Sampras. But for all his feisty on-court attitude, the 22-year-old Australian has a genuine feel for the game's history, and the unique place of Sampras within that history.

Hewitt has not had a particularly good year, losing his Wimbledon crown and his place as world number one. But he did not forget that he was the last player to defeat Sampras in the Arthur Ashe stadium, in the 2001 final. "A guy like Pete only comes round once in a lifetime, and I'm fortunate to have done what I did."

Hewitt opened with a routine 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Romania's Victor Hanescu who, at 6ft 6in, had the potential to cause him the same problems he failed to overcome against Croatia's Ivo Karlovic (6ft 10in) in the first round at Wimbledon.

"To take care of him that easily was pretty pleasing," said a delighted Hewitt on a night when understatement was in limited supply. But the superlatives heaped on Sampras were both deserved and genuine.

Guardian Service

... MEN'S SINGLES: First round: A Vinciguerra (Swe) bt R Kendrick (USA) 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 1-6 6-1, N Davydenko (Rus) bt (18) M Mirnyi (Blr) 7-6 (7-3) 2-6 6-2 7-6 (8-6), T Dent (USA) bt R Soderling (Swe) 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 3-6 6-4, S Koubek (Aut) bt G Galimberti (Ita) 5-7 6-2 6-2 7-6 (7-4), J Bjorkman (Swe) bt F Volandri (Ita) 6-1 6-4 6-0, (31) A Clement (Fra) bt B Vahaly (USA) 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 6-4, B Ulihrach (Cze) bt M Abel (Ger) 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-1, (5) G Coria (Arg) bt M Puerta (Arg) 6-4 6-3 6-1, (3) T Berdych (Cze) bt T Behrend (Ger) 5-7 6-3 6-2 6-3, (23) W Ferreira (Rsa) bt I Miranda (Per) 6-4 6-3 6-1, R Ginepri (USA) bt D Ferrer (Spa) 6-2 6-3 6-3, (16) M Verkerk (Ned) bt A Bogomolov Jr. (USA) 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 3-6 7-6 (11-9) 1-0 ret, H Taik Lee (Kor) bt V Voltchkov (Blr) 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7-3), (6) L Hewitt (Aus) bt V Hanescu (Rom) 6-3 6-2 6-2; (26) J Chela (Arg) bt R Karanusic (Cro) 6-4 7-6 (7-2) 6-3, (8) R Schuettler (Ger) bt W Arthurs (Aus) 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-4, (11) P Srichaphan (Tha) bt C Saulnier (Fra) 2-6 6-2 6-3 7-6 (7-4); D Hrbaty (Svk) bt J Gimelstob (USA) 6-3 6-4 6-2; N Kiefer (Ger) bt F Squillari (Arg) 6-3 5-0 ret, (28) Y Kafelnikov (Rus) bt K Vliegen (Bel) 3-6 7-6 (7-1) 6-2 6-2;(15) F Gonzalez (Chi) bt M Chang (USA) 6-3 7-5 5-7 6-4, R Stepanek (Cze) bt (29) F Lopez (Spa) 6-4 6-4 6-4, J Van Lottum (Ned) bt C Rochus (Bel) 6-0 6-2 6-2.

WOMEN'S SINGLES: First round: (1) K Clijsters (Bel) bt A Liu (USA) 6-2 6-3, L Granville (USA) bt A Cargill (USA) 6-4 6-0, P Mandula (Hun) bt C Black (Zim) 7-5 6-2, (17) M Shaughnessy (USA) bt K Sprem (Cro) 6-3 6-2, (9) D Hantuchova (Svk) bt M Bartoli (Fra) 6-3 6-2, J Vakulenko (Ukr) bt B Rittner (Ger) 7-5 6-2, A Barna (Ger) bt (26) L Krasnoroutskaya (Rus) 6-1 0-6 6-3, M Kirilenko (Rus) bt T Logar (USA) 6-4 6-2, (5) M Czink (Hun) bt C Fernandez (Arg) 3-6 6-1 7-5, (12) C Martinez (Spa) bt S Taylor (USA) 6-3 6-4, (24) P Suarez (Arg) bt A Roesch (Ger) 6-3 6-3, F Zuluaga (Col) bt A Morigami (Jpn) 6-1 6-4. M A Sanchez-Lorenzo (Spa) bt Y Beygelzimer (Ukr) 7-6 (12-10) 7-5, V Razzano (Fra) bt G Leon Garcia (Spa) 6-1 6-0, S Asagoe (Jpn) bt (10) M Maleeva (Bul) 6-4 6-3; (15) A Sugiyama (Jpn) bt C Martinez-Granados (Spa) 6-1 6-0, (32) M Mikaelian (Swi) bt M Weingartner (Ger) 6-3 6-1, S Talaja (Cro) bt D Randriantefy (Mad) 6-3 6-0, M Pierce (Fra) bt S Gehrlein (Ger) 6-3 6-2, (22) J Dokic (Yug) bt E Gagliardi (Swi) 6-4 6-2, S Obata (Jpn) bt T Sun (Chn) 6-2 7-5, (2) J Henin-Hardenne (Bel) bt A Kapros (Hun) 7-5 6-3; A Zanetti (Ita) bt S Foretz (Fra) 3-6 7-5 6-4, (7) A Myskina (Rus) bt H Nagyova (Svk) 6-2 3-6 6-1, T Garbin (Ita) bt M Santangelo (Ita) 4-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-4, T Pisnik (Slo) bt A Haynes (USA) 6-4 6-2, F Santoro (Fra) bt J Benneteau (Fra) 0-6 7-5 6-2 6-2, (33) K Srebotnik (Slo) bt M Drake (Can) 0-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-1, (30) M Serna (Spa) bt Y Cho (Kor) 3-6 6-2 6-1.