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Battle of the sixes No. 6 Henman joins No. 6 Coetzer in first-round flop
Posted: Wednesday September 01, 1999 12:47 AM
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- While Pete Sampras' unfortunate withdrawal and Patrick Rafter's injury-induced exit were the talk of the U.S. Open on Tuesday, England's best player wasn't exactly having the time of his life, either. A career high fifth-ranking didn't prevent Tim Henman from crashing against 68th-ranked Guillermo Canas of Argentina 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 6-3.
"I'm very, very happy," said Canas after notching his first career victory over a top 10 player. "I had a lot of confidence in my return of serve and my passing shots." It was the exact opposite for Henman. "I wouldn't say that I'm full of confidence at the moment," Henman said. "I'm five in the world at the moment. That's the highest ranking I've ever been, and I couldn't be more dissatisfied with my game." Amanda Coetzer, the sixth seed in the women's draw, also was a first-round victim, losing to Irina Spirlea on Monday.
Fifth-seeded 1997 French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil breezed to a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 win over Bohdan Ulihrach of the Czech Republic, but two other seeded men were pushed to five sets before dodging defeat. Seventh-seeded American Todd Martin outbattled France's Stephane Huet in a four-hour marathon, 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-3) to stay alive in a quarter of the draw suddenly bereft of pre-tournament favorite Sampras. German Nicolas Kiefer, the 15th seed, held off Australian Jason Stoltenberg 6-4, 6-3, 1-6, 4-6, 6-3. The women's side offered no such drama as defending champion Lindsay Davenport, the second seed, demolished fellow-American doubles partner Corina Morariu 6-0, 6-3 and fifth-seeded Mary Pierce of France pounded Sandra Nacuk of Yugoslavia 6-3, 7-5. Ninth seed Julie Halard-Decugis of France was extended to three sets by Cara Black of Zimbabwe 6-3, 5-7, 6-3, and Jennifer Capriati beat former French Open champion Iva Majoli of Croatia 6-1, 7-5 in a match between distinguished non-seeds. Sampras was to play his first match of the tournament on Wednesday against up-and-coming Russian Marat Safin, who last week notched his first professional tournament title in Boston. Safin, instead, will go against Mikael Tillstrom of Sweden, a lucky loser from the qualifying tournament. Tillstrom is ranked 129 places below Sampras at number 130. The sixth-seeded Henman had no excuses for his embarrassing performance in the two-hour, 12-minute match. "For a guy of my ability to play like that, it's not acceptable," Henman said. "I got to this ranking because I believe I'm a good player. "If I'm going to take it to the next level, then this type of thing can't happen." The 25-year-old Henman started the day with a sense of false hope, leading Canas 4-2 in the opening set, but the match turned in the Argentine's favor from that point and the Briton never recovered. The first set tiebreaker was indicative of how things went sour for Henman during the match as the Briton committed a rash of forehand errors to lost 7-1 and give Canas the first set. Canas shot 35 winners past Henman while making 34 unforced errors. In comparison, Henman posted only a scant 19 winners, but an inordinate 52 unforced errors. "My performance today was very, very flat," Henman said. "I think probably because I was playing so badly that I didn't really feel like there was anything to get fired up about. I was trying to dig my heels in and stop things slipping away from me. I could never actually do that with the way I was playing." Since reaching a second consecutive Wimbledon semifinal in July, Henman has had a shaky summer on the hardcourts with a 3-5 record coming into the Open. Henman, who has been working with a sports psychologist during much of this year, is of the belief that his talents are worthy of an even higher ranking than five. In his estimation, the inability to improve isn't tactical, but is "definitely mental. I think it's probably between my ears." In truth, however, Henman's overall Grand Slam record is not that impressive. His only real Grand Slam success has come on home turf at Wimbledon, where he reached the quarters in 1996 and 1997 and the semis the last two years. He has gone no further than the fourth round at the U.S. Open.
While there have been four career titles for Henman, none
have been at even the ATP Tour Super 9 series, the next level
tournament below the Grand Slams.
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