Tennis/French Open: Andy Roddick went one round better than last year but once again fell short at Roland Garros yesterday.
The American number-two seed, who like Tim Henman and Justine Henin-Hardenne, had been suffering from a virus, on this occasion a stomach bug, fell in five sets to Olivier Mutis 3-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-2.
No real surprise there. He hadn't made it further than the second round before in this tournament and he's not the first American star to arrive in Paris and find the game on clay a different proposition from hard court or grass. Ask Pete Sampras: 14 Grand Slams and not one in Paris.
Mutis, a grinder ranked 125 in the world, has never won a title, while this year alone the American 21-year-old has won two. Leaving that aside, Roddick's departure following so quickly on the heels of Andre Agassi will have greatly undermined American confidence.
There are now no American players left in the men's singles draw, which is suddenly wide open for European or South American consumption.
Once Roddick allowed Mutis back into the match in the fourth set, the contest went spiralling out of his control. Roddick looked uncomfortable in the final couple of sets in the three-hour-11-minute match, while Mutis appeared to sense the weakness and buoyed up by a vocal home support set about stretching the number two in a no-frills manner.
But it was Roddick's inability to convert break points on his opponent's service games that cost him dearest. He converted just one of the six points available, Mutis taking three from nine on the rain-sodden court.
"I started well but just time after time I kept letting him back into it. When I did that he was a different player," said Roddick.
"That was my fault. Kudos for him for getting back into it. I said at the beginning that I needed a hard court. My balls just weren't penetrating through the court today and he was hitting good balls and fetching."
"It was tough because the outside (of the court) and the tarps were wet so it was like the ball was running through puddles. I have no choice but to look forward to much improvement.
"Unfortunately I came up short today. Early on I was dominating and then I played some sloppy games and he was taking cuts at my forehand. He then just grew in confidence and used his momentum well and I was waffling about what I had to do."
Blazing to a 6-0 first-set lead, Tim Henman took his game against Lars Burgsmuller with uncanny ease. Strong on his service game and commanding at the net, Henman will meet a more typically strong Spanish clay-court player, Galo Blanco, in the third round.
It was Blanco, five or six years ago in Monte Carlo, who made him decide he ought to learn how to play on clay.
"Right, it was a turning point, that's for sure," he said with a grin. "Then my understanding (of clay) was nonexistent. To suddenly see a guy standing pretty close to the tramlines and hitting these huge kickers, I had just no idea."
Yesterday's performance against the 28-year-old German showed encouraging progress and given that he was only on court for an hour and a half, Henman's recuperating body will have been less stressed than had it been five sets.
Winning 22 of the 25 points he played at the net, or 88 per cent, Henman was clearly exploiting his usually strong volleying. He needed just 35 minutes to take the second set 6-3 and he was then totally in control.
