KEY POINTS:
Tim Henman survived a battle of wills at Wimbledon this morning, completing an epic 6-3 1-6 5-7 6-2 13-11 victory over Spain's Carlos Moya.
The 32-year-old former golden boy of British tennis and four-times semi-finalist here rolled back the years to win a gripping contest that had resumed at 5-5 in the decider after bad light stopped play on Monday.
Moya, the 25th seed, had staved off four match points on Monday after himself leading 4-2 in the decider but he finally cracked, serving a double fault to end a match that lasted three hours 41 minutes.
The final set alone spanned nearly two hours.
"I think it sort of speaks volumes the way that we both came out and really continued where we left off," Henman, who had managed just two Tour wins this year, told reporters.
"It's been well documented that my form hasn't been good coming in. But this place is so special to me. I've had so many experiences here over the years. I always believe that good things are going to happen."
Meanwhile, Amelie Mauresmo performed her tennis duties as defending champion with a minimum of fuss on Centre Courrt, opening proceedings there on the traditional "Ladies' Day" with an assured defeat of American Jamea Jackson.
The 27-year-old French fourth seed swept to a 6-1 6-3 victory with a few flashes of the flamboyant strokeplay that lifted her to victory over Justine Henin in last year's final.
While Henman and Moya had provided an old-fashioned serve and volley duel, Moya's close friend Nadal followed them with a brutal show of power to beat American Mardy Fish 6-3 7-6 6-3.
Fresh from his hat-trick of titles at Roland Garros, topspin king Nadal proved again that he can adapt his awesome baseline skills to Wimbledon's slick lawns.
All he wants now, he said, is some Spanish sunshine.
"It's better for the Spaniards, the Latins, the sun makes it a bit slower, the ball gets a bit more topspin," he said.
"But grass don't change, it's always grass."
Mauresmo can only dream about the kind of domination Nadal enjoys at her home slam in Paris but at least she appears to have found her natural habitat in south west London.
With a game not unlike Henman's classical grasscourt cut and thrust she was too good for the 20-year-old Jackson, the daughter of an NFL cornerback.
"I feel that I'm enjoying it," she said of walking out as a champion.
"There's maybe a little extra tension before you walk on the court.
"It was very, very different, quite bizarre," she added of the returning to the world's most famous court that has been shorn of its roof this year.
"It's lost a bit of its intimacy."
Second and third seeds Maria Sharapova and Jelena Jankovic also moved through. Jankovic crushed British wildcard Anne Keothavong 6-2 6-0 while Sharapova was made to work harder before beating Taiwan's Chan Yung-Jan 6-1 7-5.
For the second day running a former champion diced with danger on Court Two.
Unlike Martina Hingis yesterday, three-times winner Venus Williams did not have to save any match points but was still given a scare by Russian Alla Kudryavtseva before winning 2-6 6-3 7-5.
Slovak 10th seed Daniela Hantuchova dished out a harsh lesson to 15-year-old Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, beating the junior world champion 6-0 6-1.
Men's ninth seed James Blake joined compatriot Andy Roddick in the second round with a 6-3 6-4 6-4 victory over French Open quarter-finalist Igor Andreev.
However there were several American casualties in the men's draw, with Robert Kendrick, Kevin Kim, Vince Spadea and Bobby Reynolds all joining Fish out the exit door.
Shocks have been notable by their absence so far and a clutch of A-list contenders eased into the men's second round.
Serbian third seed Novak Djokovic dropped just seven games in a demolition of Potito Starace of Italy while Lleyton Hewitt, the last man to win Wimbledon before Federer took over, beat Briton Richard Bloomfield.
Argentine David Nalbandian, was too good for German Mischa Zverev while 10thh seed Marcos Baghdatis, a semifinalist last year, beat the fading light to edge out Latvian teenager Ernests Gulbis in four sets.
RESULTS - WIMBLEDON DAY 2
Men:
2-Rafael Nadal (Spain) bt Mardy Fish (US) 6-3 7-6 6-3,
Tim Henman (Britain) bt 25-Carlos Moya (Spain) 6-3 1-6 5-7 6-2 13-11,
10-Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) bt Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) 3-6 6-4 6-3 6-2,
Gilles Simon (France) bt Marin Cilic (Croatia) 3-6 7-5 6-4 4-6 6-3,
6-Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) bt Evgeny Korolev (Russia) 7-6 6-4 7-6,
Gael Monfils (France) bt Thomas Johansson (Sweden) 6-4 7-6 6-2,
Florian Mayer (Germany) bt Sam Warburg (US) 6-4 6-2 6-2,
Nicolas Devilder (France) bt Mariano Zabaleta (Argentina) 6-7 6-4 7-5 6-4, Chris Guccione (Australia) bt Alex Bogdanovic (Britain) 7-6 6-4 6-4,
Kristof Vliegen (Belgium) bt 32-Juan Monaco (Argentina) 6-4 6-3 7-6,
Fabrice Santoro (France) bt Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) 4-6 7-6 7-6 3-6 6-4,
Wang Yeu-tzuoo (Taiwan) bt Igor Kunitsyn (Russia) 6-3 6-4 6-7 6-7 6-2,
4-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) bt Potito Starace (Italy) 6-0 6-3 6-4,
Amer Delic (US) bt Lukas Dlouhy (Czech Republic) 6-3 6-4 5-7 6-4,
Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) bt 30-Filippo Volandri (Italy) 6-3 7-6 6-1,
28-Robin Soderling (Sweden) bt Olivier Rochus (Belgium) 6-3 6-2 6-2,
18-Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) bt Michael Russell (US) 6-3 6-2 7-5,
Michael Llodra (France) bt Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) 6-4 6-4 6-1, Sebastien Grosjean (Fra) bt Jonathan Marray (Britain) 6-2 7-6 7-5,
22-Guillermo Canas (Arg) bt Ivan Navarro Pastor (Spain) 7-6 6-3 6-1,
14-Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) bt Kristian Pless (Denmark) 6-4 6-2 6-4,
Frank Dancevic (Canada) bt Stefan Koubek (Austria) 6-2 6-4 6-2,
Simone Bolelli (Italy) bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spain) 4-6 7-6 6-4 6-4,
7-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) bt Nicolas Massu (Chile) 7-6 6-4 6-2,
29-Agustin Calleri (Argentina) bt Luis Horna (Peru) 6-2 7-6 7-5,
Wayne Arthurs (Aust.) bt Thiemo De Bakker (Netherlands) 6-7 6-7 7-6 6-4 6-4,
Lee Hyung-taik (S Korea) bt Martin Vassallo Arguello (Argentina) 6-4 6-2 6-3, 21-Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) bt Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 7-6, 6-4 6-7 6-3,
24-J I Chela (Argentina) bt Benjamin Becker (Germany) 3-6 4-6 6-4 6-4 10-8, Werner Eschauer (Austria) bt Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (Spain) 6-2 3-6 6-4 6-3, 16-Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) bt Richard Bloomfield (Britain) 7-5 6-3 7-5,
23-David Nalbandian (Argentina) bt Mischa Zverev (Germany) 6-3 6-4 6-2,
11-Tommy Robredo (Spain) bt Robert Kendrick (US) 6-2 3-6 6-3 6-7 6-3,
19-Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) bt Fernando Vicente (Spain) 6-3 6-1 6-2,
Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France) bt Jamie Baker (Britain) 7-6 6-2 6-3,
Max Mirnyi (Belarus) bt Lu Yen-hsun (Taiwan) 6-3 6-4 2-1 retired,
20-Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain) bt Jan Hajek (Czech Rep) 6-7 4-6 6-3 6-2 7-5, Nicolas Mahut (France) bt Arnaud Clement (France) 6-3 3-6 7-6 6-4,
Feliciano Lopez (Spain) bt Joshua Goodall (Britain) 6-1 6-4 6-4,
Gilles Muller (Luxembourg) bt Oscar Hernandez (Spain) 6-2 6-7(6) 4-3 retired, Nicolas Lapentti (Ecuador) bt Kevin Kim (US) 2-6 6-2 4-6 6-3 6-4,
9-James Blake (US) bt Igor Andreev (Russia) 6-3 6-4 6-4,
15-Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) bt Vincent Spadea (US) 6-4 6-4 4-6 7-6,
Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pakistan) bt Lee Childs (Britain) 6-3 6-4 7-6,
26-Marat Safin (Russia) Rik de Voest (South Africa) 7-6 6-4 7-5,
Jan Hernych (Czech Republic) bt Marc Gicquel (France) 0-6 6-4 6-4 6-4,
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) bt Julien Benneteau (France) 7-6 7-5 6-4,
Fernando Verdasco (Spain) bt Bobby Reynolds (US) 6-4 6-3 6-3,
12-Richard Gasquet (France) bt Bohdan Ulihrach (Czech Republic) 6-3 6-4 6-4, Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) bt Davide Sanguinetti (Italy) 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-4, Andreas Seppi (Italy) bt 31-Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) 7-6 6-1 6-2,
Andrei Pavel (Romania) bt Juan Pablo Guzman (Argentina) 6-4 6-4 6-1.
Women:
23-Venus Williams (US) bt Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) 2-6 6-3 7-5,
2-Maria Sharapova (Russia) bt Yung-Jan Chan (Taiwan) 6-1 7-5,
26-Ai Sugiyama (Japan) bt Melanie South (Britain) 6-3 6-2,
Agnes Szavay (Hungary) bt Eva Birnerova (Czech Republic) 6-4 6-1,
Alize Cornet (France) bt Maria Kirilenko (Russia) 6-4 6-4,
Yvonne Meusburger (Austria) bt Virginie Razzano (France) 6-4 7-5,
Tatiana Poutchek (Belarus) bt Viktoriya Kutuzova (Ukraine) 6-4 6-2,
Hana Sromova (Czech Republic) bt Peng Shuai (China) 6-4 6-4,
Jarmila Gajdosova (Slovakia) bt Meghann Shaughnessy (US) 6-2 6-4,
8-Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) bt Angelique Kerber (Germany) 7-5 6-3,
3-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) bt Anne Keothavong (Britain) 6-2 6-0,
Elena Vesnina (Russia) bt 30-Olga Poutchkova (Russia) 6-1 6-3,
Olga Govortsova (Belarus) bt Greta Arn (Germany) 6-7 7-6 6-1,
Emilie Loit (France) bt Sun Tiantian (China) 6-3 6-1,
Eleni Daniilidou (Greece) bt Gisela Dulko (Argentina) 5-7 6-3 8-6, 31-Michaella Krajicek (Netherlands) bt Tzipora Obziler (Israel) 6-2 6-7 6-1,
24-Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) bt Jill Craybas (US) 6-1 6-2,
Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) bt Maria Elena Camerin (Italy) 3-6 6-1 7-5,
Katie O'Brien (Britain) bt Sandra Kloesel (Germany) 6-3 7-5,
19-Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) bt Elena Baltacha (Britain) 7-6 3-6 6-2,
4-Amelie Mauresmo (France) bt Jamea Jackson (US) 6-1 6-3,
27-Samantha Stosur (Australia) bt Kristina Brandi (Puerto Rico) 4-6 6-2 6-2, Nika Ozegovic (Croatia) bt Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Germany) 6-3 6-2,
Milagros Sequera (Venezuela) bt Julia Schruff (Germany) 6-3 6-2,
10-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) bt Anastasia Pav'chenkova (Rus) 6-0 6-1,
Sania Mirza (India) bt Yaroslava Shvedova (Russia) 6-0 6-3,
11-Nadia Petrova (Russia) bt Vania King (US) 6-0 6-1,
5-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) bt Julia Vakulenko (Ukraine) 4-6 6-4 6-3, Bethanie Mattek (US) bt Vasilisa Bardina (Russia) 6-1 6-0
- REUTERS
