EVERY morning along the Avenue de la Porte Auteuil, which leads to the Stade Roland Garros, the pavement rapidly becomes littered with discarded advertising bills which are handed out to the public and then thrown away almost instantaneously. Such is the fate of more than 200 men and women in the first week of a Grand Slam.
The early fall of any big names lingers in the air like the tempting smell of a Gauloise to a former smoker, but the majority are gone and forgotten by the first weekend.
Gloria Pizzichini appeared doomed to such early oblivion once she was drawn in close proximity to Martina Hingis. The women's number one had waltzed through her opening match, and there seemed little likelihood that this Italian girl would delay her very much longer.
Opinion polls are forbidden in France in the week before general elections, but a straw poll here in the morning would undoubtedly have produced a large majority in favour of a straight sets win for Hingis, the women's number one. Imagine, then, the sudden buzz of surprise both inside and outside the Court Suzanne Lenglen yesterday lunchtime when, within 11 minutes of the start of her second round match, Hingis trailed 4-0. Plates were discarded and glasses left half full as the sporting equivalent of hyenas and vultures smelt blood.
Those of an altogether more optimistic nature stuck with their vittles a little longer, but even they were forced to jump about a bit when further news arrived that the `Can't Miss Swiss', unbeaten this year, was 3-6 3-4 down and in the kind of trouble that Monsieur Chirac is currently experiencing.
Pizzichini had been 3-0 down in the second set, but then scrambled her way back, thanks to numerous Hingis errors and her own penetrating ground strokes. So here she was, serving, and with a point for 5-3. The crowd fell silent. Even the sparrows were silent.
Twice she served, twice she failed. The lift of Hingis's shoulders and the roll of her eyes told it all. The hook had been removed and she was free to swim away to victory with the joyous wriggle of a released fish.
The 21 year old Italian was mortified. "I mean it was impossible to do that double fault. It simply means I was too afraid to win the match."
Hingis claimed she had never contemplated losing, although she offered a silent prayer when Pizzichini doublefaulted. "It helps sometimes if you are the number one in the world," she said.
Hingis is clearly not moving properly yet following her riding accident. There is no suggestion that the operation on her left knee is still troubling her, rather that she has yet to get her eye in after not playing competitively since winning the Hilton Head tournament in early April. The uncanny anticipation is currently missing, no doubt temporarily.
She next plays Russia's Anna Kournikiva, who will herself be 16 years old next week, and yesterday defeated another Italian, Sandra Cecchini 6-2 6-2. The two have never met at senior level, although Hingis holds a 2-0 lead from junior days, the last win being 6-0 6-0 at the US Open juniors.
"I hope the third time will be the same," smiled Hingis. It may be a touch tougher.
Venus Williams gave the impression, after her first round victory, that she felt there was no good reason why she could not beat anybody here in her very first Grand Slam tournament. Such precociousness is easily forgiven, although Williams, 17 years old next month, currently speaks a much better game than she plays.
Hingis emphasised the current gap between promise and actual achievement when she defeated Williams 6-4 6-2 at the Lipton Championships, after which the American suggested it would be she, Venus, and her younger sister, Serena, who would be vying for the number one spot in the future. Hingis smiled.
Williams was a little more chastened yesterday when, in front of 16,000 spectators on the main court, she lost 5-7 6-3 7-5 to France's Nathalie Tauziat, ranked number 23 and nearly 30 years old.The American, sheathed in shiny grey, her hair a rattle of white beads, unleashed the occasional venomous shot, but in a match of scant quality the experience and tenacity of Tauziat were paramount.
"I'm lost. I don't know what I'm doing," said Williams afterwards. The really hard lessons have begun.
Meanwhile, Marcelo Rios refused to allow the sun to set on his French Open ambitions yesterday during a late night duel with Zimbabwe's Byron Black which provided the final chapter to an epic family saga.
With daylight fading fast on centre court, the seventh seeded Rios finally clinched a remarkable 6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 6-0 second round win, just 48 hours after surviving another five set marathon against Black's younger brother Wayne.
The moody Chilean left hander had looked likely to become the fourth top 10 seed to disappear when he lost the second set tie break 7-0 to Black, who appeared to have exposed his opponent's inconsistency. The end arrived after three and a half hours.
