Tennis: Henin gone, Henman scrapes through

Belgium's Justine Henin-Hardenne shows her frustration during her first round women's singles loss to Eleni Daniilidou of Greece at Wimbledon this morning. Picture / Reuters

Justine Henin-Hardenne's fragile hopes of winning the only grand slam missing from her collection were dashed this morning when she lost in the first round at Wimbledon.

Tim Henman, once again shouldering a nation's dreams for a first British men's champion in 69 years, survived.

But only just.

The 30-year-old's toothless display left the Centre Court crowd on the edge of its seats before he finally overcame obscure Finn Jarkko Nieminen 3-6 6-7 6-4 7-5 6-2.

"It was ordinary at best," was Henman's candid verdict. "I was struggling with my form the whole match, that was the picture really... but you've got to keep fighting.

"Fight with what you've got on the day. I am proud of the way I managed to do that. You can lose this tournament on the first day but you can't win it."

French Open champion Henin-Hardenne learnt the harsh reality of Henman's maxim the tough way.

She had no answer to Greek Eleni Daniilidou's weight of shot and went down 7-6 2-6 7-5.

"Well, it's pretty hard, but... that was the worst draw I could get," she said. "So I'm not gonna be positive today, and I have no excuse.

"I never felt the good rhythm, and I missed some opportunities in the third set. So it's very hard to win when you play like this."

Defending champion Maria Sharapova failed to match the sparkle of her 18 carat gold tennis shoes in the opening of her defence, but still advanced 6-2 6-2 over claycourter Nuria Llagostera Vives.

However the scoreline had as much to do with the Spaniard's unease on the slick grass as the champion's prowess.

"I can get a lot better from here obviously," she said.

"I did enough to win and so, you know, I'm pretty satisfied.

"The pace of the court here is a lot different (to clay). I think she struggled with that a little bit."

Still, though, Sharapova could not help but enjoy her match.

"It was so amazing. I was just smiling," she said. "I usually don't smile when I go out on the court.

"The people are clapping. You're just taking it all in. You're remembering last year.

"This is where magic happened, I guess. So it was just really good to feel that again."

Men's second seed Andy Roddick was far more impressive, thumping Czech Jiri Vanek 6-1 7-6 6-2.

The man with the world's fastest serve cracked 14 aces past his opponent as he racked up victory in 82 minutes.

"I felt like it was a pretty good performance," last year's runner-up said.

"You know, three sets, I'm through to round two. I felt like I hit the ball pretty cleanly.

"That's what you're looking for in the first round." Arriving at Wimbledon as the Stella Artois champion for the third successive year, Roddick will face Italian Daniele Bracciali next.

Bracciali won a nerve-shredding, five-set match against 6ft 10ins (2.08m) Ivo Karlovic 6-7 7-6 3-6 7-6 12-10.

Roddick was joined in the second round by fellow American Venus Williams who breezed past Eva Birnerova 6-2 6-4.

"It was sunny. That was nice," she sighed.

Younger sister Serena, seeded fourth this year, meets fellow American Angela Haynes later on Tuesday.

British wildcard Andrew Murray crowned his grand slam debut with a 6-4 6-2 6-2 victory over George Bastl.

Bastl is best known for beating seven-times champion Pete Sampras in the American's last trip to Wimbledon in 2002.

But on the same court on which he recorded that milestone win, the Swiss journeyman was no match for 18-year-old Murray.

Murray, who faces Radek Stepanek next, is refusing to get carried away, though.

"Obviously, I'm not expecting to win. I think if I go out and play one of my best matches, I've got a slight chance. But apart from that, no, I should lose pretty comfortably," he said.

- REUTERS